I-23: Freezing Oocytes: New or Old Ethical Issues?

Background: This paper considers whether the development of oocyte freezing raises any new or distinctive ethical issues. It will examine the ethical issues raised by this technique: the ’social’ use of egg freezing and how that might be defined; the use of egg freezing for cancer patients; and limitations and benefits of the technique. Materials and Methods: A consideration of the literature and an ethical analysis of the issues raised by the developments in egg freezing. Conclusion: This paper concludes by arguing that egg freezing does not, in itself, raise any new ethical issues, Abstracts of the 11th Royan International Congress on Reproductive Biomedicine International Journal of Fertility & Sterility (IJFS), Vol 4, Suppl 1, Summer 2010 14 but casts existing debates over safety of treatments, appropriate age of parents, who should be a parent, and possible increase in technological interventions in reproduction in a new light.