Feminist tool or capitalist ploy? How egg freezing is transforming the fertility conversation
Varsha Yajman investigates the growing popularity of egg freezing, asking whether the touted new feminist tool is freeing women from the pressures of the so-called biological clock, or preying on our fertility anxieties.
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Recently, actor and podcaster Dax Shepard said on his podcast Armchair Expert that he had told his 11-year-old daughter he would pay to freeze her eggs when she turned 18. He said the discussion was based on the assumption that she might want to prioritise her career and have children later in life.
Like many celebrity anecdotes, the discourse online in response to Shepherd’s comments was rife. However, Shepherd is not alone in bringing egg freezing into the spotlight of pop culture.
At 23, children are not in my immediate future. However, when I do think about them, the thought is often tied to the disproportionate impact they would have on my career, my body and my lifestyle compared to my partner’s. Given this, I’ve been in the depths of exploring whether egg freezing is a new feminist tool freeing women from the pressures of the so-called biological clock or whether it simply pressures women to “future-proof” their fertility, often at high financial and emotional cost, to keep up with the demands of late stage capitalism where nearly all aspects of our life are commodified.
The rise in egg freezing
While celebrity anecdotes may seem extreme, egg freezing is becoming increasingly common. Research from one IVF clinic suggested that the number of women freezing their eggs increased by almost 50 per cent between 2023 and 2025.
Molly Johnston, a postdoctoral research fellow and assistant lecturer at the Monash Bioethics Centre, says egg freezing can give people a sense of control over their reproductive futures.
Preserving eggs while they are younger can increase the chances of having genetically related children later in life. For many people, she says, that possibility offers relief from the pressure to have children within a narrow biological window.
Johnston attributes the rise in egg freezing to two key factors.
The first is growing awareness. Fertility clinics increasingly market egg freezing services, and social media has become a powerful promotional tool.
The second is what she describes as a “shift in priorities”.
“For a lot of people, the pandemic made them reconsider their priorities,” Johnston says. “For many, this meant thinking about family, or at least the possibility of it. That pushed some people to be proactive about safeguarding the chance of conceiving in the future.”
Lauren’s decision
For Lauren, who froze her eggs at 31 and again at 34, egg freezing felt like a “proactive and precautionary tool”.
She had always wanted children but wasn’t sure when she would meet the right partner. When she first considered egg freezing at 31, it still felt like “uncharted territory” as she didn’t know anyone personally who had done it.
Her GP first raised the possibility and after doing her research, Lauren weighed up the cost, which for elective egg freezing was $11,000, and the positive effect on her “overall wellbeing”. For her, she decided egg freezing was the right option.
While Lauren does say that egg freezing is “not something you just casually decide to do”, the “peace of mind” it offered her, has given her a very positive outlook on the freedom that egg freezing gives women when considering fertility options.
Lauren describes the process itself, which included two weeks of hormone injections to stimulate the ovaries, followed by an egg retrieval performed under anaesthetic, as largely “smooth sailing.”
During her first time freezing her eggs, the main challenge Lauren recalled was the lack of continuity in her care. The specialist she consulted was different from the surgeon who ultimately performed the procedure.
“For something that feels quite confronting, that was difficult to manage,” she says.
When Lauren decided to freeze her eggs again, it was due to the results of the Anti-Müllerian Hormone (AMH) test, which measures hormone levels associated with ovarian reserve and can indicate the number of eggs a woman has, being lower than she had hoped.
This time, she qualified for a Medicare subsidy under the category of “social infertility”, the inability to conceive due to social or situational circumstances rather than a medical condition. The subsidy reduced the cost to around $5,000.
The corporatisation of and class barriers to egg freezing
For Lauren, egg freezing represented a way to exert agency over her future. But she also acknowledges that the procedure exists within a rapidly growing, for-profit fertility industry.
Johnston says this makes transparency particularly important.
“While raising awareness of options is valuable, we need to be very careful about how egg freezing is promoted and the information that accompanies it,” she says.
A UK study examining fertility clinic websites found that many presented an overly optimistic view of elective egg freezing. The study concluded that clinics often failed to clearly communicate success rates, risks and the full financial costs of treatment.
Media narratives can also shape perceptions. For instance, a Bloomberg Businessweek story promoted egg freezing with the tagline “Freeze Your Eggs, Free Your Career”, and Kindbody drives its fertility van through the American urban centres with the tagline “You will never be as fertile as you are today.”
In many ways, rather than freeing women from their biological clocks, this advertising reinforced the pressure on women to freeze their eggs and frames the procedure as a pathway to professional success.
Tech giants like Google, Facebook and Apple offer to cover egg-freezing expenses for employees as part of workplace benefits packages.
Critics argue these incentives can subtly reinforce workplace cultures that reward delaying family life.
At the same time, egg freezing raises questions of access. For many people, the cost remains a significant barrier, leaving those who cannot afford the procedure still feeling bound by the constraints of their biological clock.
Sarah Hunt, a fertility specialist at Monash IVF, notes that egg freezing is ultimately about “keeping future fertility options open as much as possible”, but it does not guarantee pregnancy later in life.
Hunt also says it is “unlikely” egg freezing will become the norm, given the financial cost and the fact that many people never end up using their frozen eggs.
Some argue that better parental leave policies, affordable childcare and more supportive workplaces would make it easier for women to have children earlier if they choose. But these solutions do not address every circumstance, including the reality that many people, like Lauren, have not yet met the partner they want to have children with.
The blurred line between empowerment and commodification
Ultimately, egg freezing, like most technologies under late-stage capitalism, blurs the lines between empowerment and expectation.
For Lauren, egg freezing is a “feminist tool,” and undergoing the procedure improved her overall well-being - a testament to the freedom that this technology can provide.
However, the high costs and privatisation of the industry risk the technology being used to commodify female fertility by targeting women’s anxieties about aging and career timelines.
A 2025 review of reproductive technologies notes that to mitigate the risks of this profit-driven industry and ensure individuals make informed decisions about their fertility, we need consistent regulation across states and territories on the promotion of egg freezing by clinics and the media, and better oversight and guidance for professionals in the sector.
It is clear that, for egg freezing to be a safe and freeing option for women, reforms need to prioritise the interests of patients over the interests of corporations and clinics driven by profit.
About the author
Varsha Yajman
Varsha Yajman is a lawyer, writer and advocate discussing the intersection across topics like climate justice, mental health and race.
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Varsha, this is such an important topic. Thank you for covering this. I wrote a piece in December on the linguistics of fertility and the language in this space is alarming vague, urgent and lacks any care.
Fertility clinics in the US, like a lot of other clinics like dental, health or vet, are owned by VCs and it’s evident in their processes, marketing and general care of their patients.
“You will never be as fertile as you are today.”
This kind of “influencer” speak is damaging for women looking for real advice and support; I’ve seen it and captured a few days worth of headlines, forcing women into decisions in a very personal and emotional space though persuasive language.
The research on high dose medication for egg retrieval and the outcomes isn’t guaranteed, and yet they’re discussed like they are. The need for quality of eggs vs quantity are the quieter voices that don’t get the air time.
I leave my comments there — but thank you for this piece!
As someone who has undergone the procedure, I respectfully invite the reader to exercise caution when reading this article. While the young author deftly deploys loaded and cynical terms like “ploy” and “late stage capitalism”, the article is critically lacking in evidentiary support for such claims.
For a topic which demands careful and considered research and commentary this article falls short.
My view is that with appropriate and informed medical care, egg freezing offers women the option to exercise autonomy and control over their fertility. Any woman who is serious enough about their fertility to consider egg freezing would be astute enough to appreciate that careful research should be undertaken before making this decision. Take the time to ask your GP and then your specialist all the questions you need to. Consider the full spectrum of statistics in relation to the likelihood of a live birth. Speak to your friends and family about the choice.
Curiously this article fails to refer to the recently released egg freezing calculator by UNSW. It can be found here: https://yourivfsuccess.com.au/egg-freezing/calculator
This calculator is a helpful and independent way to consider whether egg freezing is something you want to pursue.
Unfortunately again, this article fails to highlight the fact that egg freezing is used to assist very sick women who need to defer having children, or for women dealing with unexpected and traumatic changes in their life circumstances. It offers a viable option for those women, where previously there was no option. It also offers choice and perhaps a “parachute” for women who have other priorities in their early thirties or who have not met a person with whom they would like to start a family.
Of course egg freezing can be expensive. It requires specialist medical care, nursing, medication, blood tests, ultrasounds, surgery and ultimately the use of revolutionary science to preserve biological matter. But it is not a capitalist ploy.
Rather than be deterred by this reductive and under researched article, my recommendation to you is to carefully read, listen and inquire. Check whether you are eligible for any Medicare subsidy. Inform yourself with independent material, with medically informed/backed information which will meaningfully assist you in making this choice. Start with your GP.