CDA opposes human egg-freezing plan

The ruling Christian Democrats are strongly opposed to plans by Amsterdam University’s medical centre to begin freezing eggs for women who may want to have a baby at a later age, the Volkskrant reports on Wednesday.


CDA MP Janneke Schermers told the Volkskrant the idea is ‘undesirable’ and would involve a medical procedure without medical need.
The plan to offer single women egg harvesting and freezing services is unveiled by the head of the centre’s reproduction unit in an interview with Vrij Nederland magazine. The technique is already offered to young women who may become infertile because of treatment for cancer.
The centre plans to offer to store the eggs for women up to the age of 50 from next year. ‘But by that age, pregnancy is artificial and requires hormone treatment,’ said Schermers. ‘We should not want that.’
Junior coalition party and orthox Christian grouping ChristenUnie has not yet taken a stand.
The health ministry has no objections to the plan, the Volkskrant said. However, it reported the government’s medicial advisory institute Rathenau as saying the plan is an indirect way to get round the current ban on embryo research in the Netherlands.
Dutch women have their first baby on average just before they turn 30, making them among the oldest first-time mothers in the world.

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