As Australia grapples with a declining fertility rate, an increasing number of women are taking matters into their own hands.
The number of Australian women who froze their eggs tripled in the five years to 2020, but it is an expensive process that comes with no guarantees.
Typically, women who freeze their eggs are well-educated, financially secure single women in their mid to late 30s, according to the Victorian Assisted Reproductive Treatment Authority (VARTA).
Not many people can afford to freeze their eggs, which only attracts a Medicare rebate if the procedure is undertaken for medical reasons.
Each egg retrieval process costs between $5,000 and $10,000.
But depending on age, a woman may need to undergo several egg-retrieval cycles to be able to collect and store the optimal number of eggs to give her a reasonable chance of a live birth in the future.
According to VARTA, that means an average 35-year-old can expect to pay $16,000 — $20,000 and an average 40-year-old woman $48,000 — $60,000 to store enough eggs for an 80 per cent chance of a baby.
Women withdrawing from super to fund procedures
Forty-one-year-old Sydney woman Amy froze her eggs when she was 38 after a blood test a couple of years earlier revealed she had a low ovarian reserve.
The process cost her $40,000 up-front and she was out of pocket $28,000, even with a Medicare rebate that she claimed due to her medical reason for egg freezing.
She withdrew around $20,000 from her superannuation to pay for it, placing her among a growing number of Australians who have dipped into their super to pay for IVF-related treatments.
According to the Australian Taxation Office, last financial year 2,750 people withdrew more than $45 million from their super to afford IVF-related procedures.
A Medicare rebate can help cover some of the costs of egg freezing, but eligibility can depend on "somewhat of a doctor lottery", according to Dr Molly Johnston from Monash University's Bioethics Centre.
"The definition between a medical and an elective cycle is really contested," Dr Johnston said.
"It is a blurred distinction. And the reason why this distinction matters is that it is used in policies in relation to who gets access to Medicare funding.
"That there is no clear definition of what puts someone at medical risk, means that it is down to the treating clinician to decide if there is a medical indication for egg freezing.
"If the doctor does deem it to be medically indicated, this could mean that it is more accessible for the patient."
Molly Benjamin, founder of the financial literacy platform the Ladies Finance Club, froze her eggs last week.
Because she has endometriosis, she qualified for a Medicare rebate and paid about $5,000 for the procedure.
She believes more women should be eligible for government funding to cover the costs.
"If Australia wants women to keep reproducing, keep helping to grow the economy, then we need to support women through this process," she said.
Experts divided
According to ABS data, the number of first-time mothers aged over 30 increased from 15 per cent in the 1980s to almost 53 per cent by 2020.
The World Health Organisation also says roughly one in six people worldwide now experience infertility, contributing to the increase in couples turning to IVF to conceive.
Fertility specialist Dr Lynn Burmeister argues egg freezing should attract a Medicare rebate for all women aged between 28 and 35.
"The average age of having a baby in Australia is around 31 or 32, so the second baby is 35," Dr Burmeister said.
"We are finding that a lot of these people need IVF, and sometimes their eggs are really bad after 35.
"And so, if they had eggs frozen at an earlier age, the taxpayer would actually be paying less than what they are paying for the IVF process at the moment.
"Because if I have a 30-year-old's eggs, I will get them pregnant quicker than I will get a 40-year-old woman pregnant."
But gynaecologist and fertility specialist Dr Tamara Hunter disagreed.
"I think it's a can of worms," Dr Hunter said.
"Because where do you stop? Who is eligible? What age groups are eligible?"
"I would like to see the government perhaps invest more money into making workplaces a little more family-friendly because I think that is just as important of an issue to be facing."
But Dr Hunter said she would like clearer guidelines on who should qualify for a Medicare rebate.
"At the moment there is a big divide between those who can access this and those who can't," she said.
"I definitely think we need more research in this space because at the moment there is not equity of access and that is a huge problem when you are talking about something that is potentially going to help address our infertility issue that we are facing in society right now."
Demographer Dr Liz Allen from ANU said government policies around reproductive technology needed to improve to ensure necessary reproductive rates.
"As a result of delayed commencement of childbearing, our potential for then falling pregnant naturally is constrained," Dr Allen said.
"Total fertility rate in Australia has been declining since the 1970s, to the point that we are below replacement level.
"That's a problem for Australia because once total fertility gets to around 1.5 and lower, we get into a very tricky territory where we can't seem to get fertility back up.
"Policy, by and large, ignores reproductive health when it comes to egg freezing and assisted technologies for having children.
"Governments have a role here to help parents fulfil that dream of parenthood."
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