To maximise their chances of having children in the future, some women resort to freezing their oocytes. This procedure is impossible to carry out in Luxembourg, especially as not everyone can afford to go abroad. Two young women were willing to talk about their experience.
What to do when years go by and a serious partner has not yet come forward? What if the long-awaited pregnancy is not forthcoming? For women, it is a race against time. Those who want to become mothers have no time to lose. Doctors are convinced that fertility declines after the age of 35. Some women are better endowed than others, but you have to be aware of this. Oocyte freezing is a solution which, in theory, makes it possible to postpone the fateful age when it will no longer be possible to become pregnant “naturally”. This is an option that some people take, but it is important to understand what is at stake, and above all the non-guaranteed results. Here are some explanations.
Camila Matheus is a Brazilian woman who will soon be 39 years old. She has always wanted children, but has not yet found a life partner who is ready to start a family with her. After months of reflection and Covid-19 slowing down the process, Camila was able to freeze her oocytes until better times came. “I didn’t want to do it at first, it’s a lot of money and stress. But I have friends who have done it and they put pressure on me, ‘if you really want children you have to do it’, and it wasn’t easy to find the right information.” Camila turned to specialist groups on social networks who recommended a clinic in Brussels: “The doctors in Luxembourg are not very confident in this method and are rather dissuasive, they say it doesn’t work very well”, she says. Indeed, the operation does not guarantee a pregnancy later on.
Not provided for by the CNS
Oocyte freezing is only possible for women in Luxembourg for medical reasons, as the CNS does not provide a billing “code”, which is mainly an administrative problem, according to Dr Caroline Schilling, head of the clinical department of the national assisted reproduction service (PMA) at CHL. The technique of oocyte cryopreservation is one of the fertility preservation options for women with cancer. It is offered almost systematically in our neighbouring countries and is finally beginning to be developed in Luxembourg. Today, among the different techniques of fertility preservation, oocyte freezing for cancer patients is done at the CHL, in order to increase the chances of becoming pregnant once the cancer is cured.
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