Why Taiwanese women are freezing their eggs? Vivian Tung sat on her living room floor, legs stretched out, scrunching her bare stomach to find a spot to inject Rekovelle, a hormonal medicine used to stimulate egg production.
During the two-week process of freezing her eggs, the 33-year-old Taiwanese brand marketing director had to inject herself daily.
Tung, who is single, is one of a growing number of women in Taiwan who are freezing their eggs in order to have a child later in life, despite the fact that they cannot use the eggs unless they marry.
“It’s my insurance policy,” she said, explaining that many women in Taiwan are independent, career-focused, and not looking to solely find a husband just to have children.
“My family is very supportive and respects my choice. When they hear that I buy insurance for myself, they also feel very good.”
Self-ruled Taiwan has a fertility rate of 0.89 children per woman, which is less than half the replacement level of 2.1 and one of the world’s lowest, trailing only South Korea and Hong Kong.
Why Taiwanese women are freezing their eggs?
Unlike in China, single women in Taiwan can freeze their eggs. However, it is only legal to use eggs in a heterosexual marriage, which excludes unmarried women and same-sex married couples.
According to doctors in Taiwan, the restriction has contributed to only about 8% of women using their frozen eggs, compared to around 38% in the United States.
Tung is optimistic that the democratic island’s authorities will change the rules to allow unmarried women to have children in the future.
Tung had to go to the hospital every two to three days for blood tests to check her hormone levels to see how the eggs were developing, which she had to do at odd times like 9 p.m. due to her work schedule.
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She stated that the effort was well worth it.
“In a few years Taiwan’s laws could be liberalized due to trends or people’s rising awareness on the issue could help the government to make changes,” she said.
Taiwan became the first country in Asia to legalize same-sex marriage in 2019, and same-sex couples were granted the right to jointly adopt a child in May.
However, only about 4% of children in Taiwan are born out of wedlock, compared to 40% in the United States, where it is more acceptable.
Based on communications between the Taiwan Reproductive Association and the government, Li Yi-Ping, chief director of the reproduction medical centre at Taipei’s Shin Kong Wu Ho-Su Memorial Hospital, said there was a good chance of a policy change on egg access, but the question was how long it would take.
“This is a very important national security issue. Now we must wait for society to form a consensus,” Li said.
Taiwan plans a comprehensive evaluation before deciding whether to expand access to artificial reproduction given it is a complex ethical, medical, and legal issue involving many stakeholders, said Chen Li-Chuan, a policy specialist at the Ministry of Health and Welfare.
Rising Trend
According to a study conducted by National Taiwan University Hospital, the number of women aged 35 to 39 who have opted for egg freezing has increased by 86% in the last three years.
Following the pandemic, more than a dozen egg-freezing clinics opened in the last year, according to Dr. Lai Hsing-Hua, founder of Taiwan’s first egg bank, the Stork Fertility Clinic.
According to Lai, new patients at Stork’s clinics in Taipei and Hsinchu have increased by 50% year on year, with the clinic freezing eggs for over 800 women.
The frenzy comes as two local governments, Hsinchu and Taoyuan, this year started subsidizing egg freezing.
However, only a combined 1,400 spots are available annually and an average annual salary of less than $19,000 means egg freezing is out of reach for many women.
The extraction, medicine, and clinic visits cost between $2,600 and $3,900, with annual storage fees ranging between $160 and $320.
Tung paid for her own surgery, but her supportive parents drove her to the hospital the morning of the procedure, where she used her laptop in the back seat to finish some last-minute work.
Tung was put under general anaesthesia for the 40-minute procedure and remained in the recovery room for two hours afterward, dressed in a green cotton robe and a purple mesh hat to keep her hair off her face.
“I’m in a lot of pain,” she said, with a blanket draped around her as she was escorted home by her parents. Once there, she appeared relaxed as she played with her dog on the living room floor.
“I really have a lot of peace of mind. If there is a chance in the future and I want to have a child, at least I will have the opportunity.”
