The egg freezing trifecta: medical, elective, and transgender fertility preservation

In 1978, Louise Brown, the world's first "test-tube baby," was born in England, allowing her infertile parents to overcome nine years of involuntary childlessness. Forty years later, more than 8 million in vitro fertilization babies had been born, representing at least 4% of all children in Western societies. The most recently conceived assisted reproductive technology is oocyte cryopreservation, more commonly known as egg freezing. From its inception, egg freezing has been hotly contested. Through in-depth ethnographic interviews carried out with nearly 200 individuals who froze their eggs in either the United States or Israel, the authors demonstrate the existence of an egg freezing trifecta involving three major forms: medical egg freezing for cancer patients facing fertility emergencies; elective egg freezing for single women without stable reproductive partnerships; and transgender egg freezing for transmen wishing to preserve their biogenetic parenthood potential prior to transitioning.