Work, youth before babies for Chinese who freeze eggs

BEIJING, Feb 7 (Reuters) Maybe baby? An increasing number of Chinese women are leaving nothing to chance and asking fertility institutes to freeze their eggs so they can postpone pregnancy to enjoy more of their career and youth, Chinese media reported today.

More than 260 couples in Shanghai had gone through a process to freeze their unfertilised eggs, the China Daily said, adding that this showed a ''notable rise'' from the previous year.

An even larger number of people had been asking fertility specialists if they could have the procedure done, although under Chinese law the services are only available to couples with fertility problems, the newspaper said, citing hospital doctors.

It did not say if the 260 couple had such problems.

''I just got on the right track for my career, and I do not want pregnancy to ruin my years of hard work,'' it quoted He Sha, a 28-year-old employee of a trade association, as saying.

''I just want to make sure my baby is born after I have been promoted.'' Shanghai is China's financial capital.

Current technology enabled the eggs to be preserved for at least a decade after being submerged in liquid nitrogen cooled to minus 196 degrees Celsius, the newspaper said, citing Wang Xinfeng, a medical expert from Peking University.

China, which imposes a strict one-child policy for most of the 1.3 billion population, had 10 authorised banks for sperm preservation, but none so far for eggs, the newspaper said.

About 150 children had been born in China using frozen eggs, it added.

REUTERS MQA DS1350