Don’t Plan Parenthood

Motherhood: A time many women anticipate in life. It’s symbolic of turning a new page in the book of life, the start of the long road of adulthood. However, Facebook and Apple are now asking women to put all that on hold. For what you may ask? To further their careers and advance in possible business opportunities. That’s great, right? They’re so invested in the ‘future careers and opportunities for women’ that they’re now offering to cover $20,000 worth of medical costs for their female employees to freeze their eggs.

A little background on egg freezing: it’s relatively new technology, only deemed non-experimental in 2012. It was never intended to be used as it is currently, for postponing pregnancy to further careers. Instead it was recommended as an alternative for critically ill patients undergoing treatments that could potentially sterilize them. $20,000. A lot of money, am I right? Not when it comes to freezing your eggs. If you’re considering freezing your eggs to expand the length of your career you should consider this: it cost $10,000 per egg retrieval, $3,000 for hormone injections, $1,500 for anesthesia, and $500 per year of egg storage. So basically Facebook and Apple will pay for you to get two eggs removed, the rest is up to you since it’s rare to find an insurance company that will cover the cost.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m thrilled corporations are taking women into consideration and attempting to provide solutions so they can continue in the labor force. However, both Facebook and Apple are not taking into consideration the weight of the decision and the potential detriments that come with the choice to freeze one’s eggs. There are many health risks to consider when making the choice, including blood clots, organ failure, and ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome.

Ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome occurs due to the hormone injections one needs to undergo the egg freezing process. The hormones enlarge the ovaries, putting them at risk of rupturing, in turn potentially ruining a woman’s chance for natural pregnancy. What’s the best part of all this? Egg freezing only has about a 40-50% chance of success for women under 35. But it’s great, right? Facebook and Apple are sincerely and wholeheartedly interested in the future of women in the workforce. So much so that they’re asking them to choose between a career with their corporation and potential fatalities for a possible chance at motherhood. Maybe they’ll get to have children, and just maybe they’ll get to keep their job if they do.

Could you decide between a long career with the possibility of not having children or lack of career with the probable guarantee of parenthood? Whether you want to admit it or not, it’s an emotionally devastating decision to make, especially when you’re supposed to be in the prime of your life. How will you know if you even want children? What if this job isn’t for you? Women shouldn’t be put in a position where they have to make this choice, it’s not fair to them to have to choose. Corporations should let women decide their future in their own time, not force them to make a decision because they feel like it will better their company in the long-run.

Instead of forcing women to make such a crucial decision that could significantly impact the outcome of their future, why not just offer a longer maternity leave? Or maybe use the money that they’re willing to spend on freezing eggs and instead pay women to go on maternity leave? Believe it or not, women are great multitaskers. While it may be harder for some companies, at Facebook and Apple it would be relatively easy for women to work from home while on maternity leave benefiting both the company and the new mother.

Why not pay women to work while on maternity leave at least until the point of birth, giving them something to do and allowing them to be of aid to the company at the same time? Countries like the UK offer 52 weeks of maternity leave and pay 90% of wages, so why can’t companies in the U.S. pay for a few months with the possibility of a woman working from home?

And if women are offered the chance to freeze eggs, why aren’t the corporations paying to freeze sperm? Some may argue ‘that’s completely different, men can’t get pregnant!’ This isn’t about getting pregnant though, women can still work and function normally in a job setting during the duration of the pregnancy. If a man wanted a family would he be asked to reconsider because it may affect his potential career and future with a company? It may come from stereotypes that women have a larger role in raising a child than men do, but in today’s society that couldn’t be further from the truth.

Men are just as actively involved in raising children as women are. In some cases men are more involved than women. My father, a divorcee and father to 7, raised, supported, and housed 3 of us without a single cent or ounce of support from our mother. Would he have been asked to put his parental duties on hold to further his career? Probably not, because stereotypes have told us that he has little to none.

In conclusion, businesses shouldn’t ask women to plan their reproductive futures around their company’s projected success and they shouldn’t assume men have no reproductive plans. Societal expectations and stereotypes have made us unsympathetic and greedy, always looking for something that will benefit us in a situation, which is exactly what Facebook and Apple are doing right now. Life is unexpected, can change in the blink of an eye, and should be lived that way. Not planned.