Sloane Stephens talks about players who freeze their eggs needing protections

[xdecadentx]

Tennis Champ Sloane Stephens Is Ready to Fight for Players' Rights to Freeze Their Eggs Whenever They Want https://t.co/XwsFilEmzO
- Cosmopolitan (@Cosmopolitan) June 14, 2024
- Players have to meticulously schedule their family in the off season if they want to keep their rankings

Comments

[yankeesarelove]

I froze my eggs a couple of years ago and while I was privileged enough to do so, I also felt frustrated thinking of how much earlier I could've done it if our healthcare system covered it for everyone - imagine how much better quality eggs in your 20s are but minimal people have the funds to do it then. Make it make sense! it makes it harder when you use eggs later on in life but that's when so many people are finally in a position to do so. wouldn't we save so much money in the long run if everyone could use younger eggs when they eventually want to implant?

[fraggleroq]

This right here.

I wish our healthcare system educated women about the benefits in egg freezing in your 20s to better preserve egg quality. Knowing that as a society women are starting families later in life, it would greatly benefit us to preserve our fertility earlier on in life. It's all to common to hear from women that they didn't freeze their eggs in time because they didn't know about it/didn't have the funds or time to do so.

[yankeesarelove]

yes! or its presented as a 'last resort' when really its just stopping the clock and buying you time. and if you never use the eggs, then totally fine!! but just to have retrievals done earlier in life and better quality? what a dream.

[evilgerbil]

I don't think it would save any money because the eggs are then fertilized and implanted via IVF, which is not always successful. I'm not sure how the rates of successful implantation and birth are compared to doing it the old fashioned way, but the old fashioned way does not involve the costs of technicians, hormones, and genetic analysis of embryos. And these processes may not be covered by insurance. Don't get me wrong, assisted reproductive technology is great, but it's not cheap.

[ty]

Too much to unpack here.

She does not seem to be asking to have egg freezing covered right? She just wants the right to use that process as protected time-off rather than do it on her down-time? She is not talking about maternity leave, she states that separately.

This seems so oddly privileged, I am confused but willing to understand more.

My head just keeps thinking "Meanwhile in America, most women go back to work after 6 weeks of maternity leave", maternity leave is often unpaid, Roe v Wade got overturned and republicans want to take away all birth control. Let alone that so many Americans have NO insurance at all. I am very confused

[belle_chouette]

"She’s advocating for egg freezing to be a protected ranking activity in the Women’s Tennis Association, meaning players could undergo the process during the season without their ranking-which dictates which tournaments they can play in-changing as a result of time off."

might be privileged bc most of us can't even afford to think about egg freezing, but I still think good that she's trying to effect change to help female athletes

[ty]

Thank you, since I posted a couple of people have also shared more about the process, so I understand more.

[crash31]

Egg Freezing is a PROCESS. As someone who had to freeze my eggs (and then I eventually fertilized those eggs w donor sperm and conceived via IVF) it’s not a straight forward procedure and I wish the public and women especially were educated on it.

[goldenhera]

That makes sense. Anytime anything related to reproductive health gets brought up its clear how little is known even among people you'd think are more educated on the subject. I'm not surprised there are knowledge gaps when it comes to egg freezing.

[crash31]

I want and usually roll my eyes at men’s ignorance about everything but mostly women’s health, but even women aren’t given the necessary education and opportunity to learn about their own bodies and what options and choices we have.

[evilgerbil]

Lots of people know about "egg quality" but I only learned about what that means recently. The structures forming the meiotic spindle (for some reason that is unknown or that I don't remember) function more poorly as a a person ages. So when oocytes are formed, there's an increasing chance of there being the wrong number of chromosomes present.

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[kamikashi]

awww sloane, cool shes being open about this.

and gotta shout out danyell collins. shes had to repeatedly explain why shes retiring and biggest part of it is about her health issues affecting wanting to have a baby so her timeline of that was taken into consideration to retire. i know they athletes so medical stuff is normal to talk about in pressers... but then it gets so weird when you realize they asking female athletes about so and so medical stuff that only affects women specifically. and its like oh, theyre repeatedly asked about something that is usually really private and expect them to answer things normally. a question about your forehand winners in the same breath as hey do you think you could delay wanting to have a baby if you continue winning?