卵子冷凍福利背後的慘淡真相

Last week, Apple and Facebook created a media firestorm after announcing that their lush benefit packages will now include egg freezing coverage. But lost in the theoretical discussions about the merits of this perk are more realistic considerations.

本月，蘋果（Apple）與Facebook相繼宣佈將把卵子冷凍加入到其“福利大禮包”中，這一消息迅速引發媒體熱議。然而，在一大堆關於這項福利優點的理論性探討中，卻沒有人考慮到一些更加現實的因素。

The cavalier marketing of whizzy egg freezing is clearly working if two of the largest tech companies are signing up to pay for it. Yet knowing what I know now about reproductive medicine, I would advise any woman considering this risky surgical procedure to consider that egg freezing–using startup lingo–is the very high-risk “A round.” It is a long, long way from a successful exit.

如果這兩家最大的科技公司最終同意出錢，那說明，對高科技卵子冷凍技術不負責任的營銷取得了效果。然而就筆者對生殖醫學的瞭解，我建議想要接受這項高風險手術的女同胞，首先應該想到，卵子冷凍，用創投界的行話來說，只是高風險的“首輪融資”，離成功退出的圓滿結局還有很長的距離。

Egg freezing is far from settled science. In the UK, which is one of the few countries to track and account for fertility treatment outcomes, only 20 babies have been born from frozen eggs, according to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA). And no one knows for sure how egg freezing chemicals are absorbed by eggs, or how they affect cell development.

卵子冷凍遠算不上一門成熟的科學。英國是少數幾個跟蹤和公佈生育治療結果的國家之一。據英國人類受精與胚胎管理局（Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority，HFEA）統計，迄今爲止，靠冷凍卵子出生的嬰兒僅有20個。而且誰也不能確定，冷凍所用化學物質有多少會被卵子吸收或影響細胞發育。

For a 38-year-old woman, the chance of one frozen egg leading to a live birth is only 2% to 12%, according to the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM). This is a key finding given that the average age of non-medical egg freezing customers in the U.S. is 37.4.

美國生殖醫學會（American Society for Reproductive Medicine，ASRM）統計，對一位38歲的女性來說，一個冷凍卵子成功生出嬰兒的概率僅有2-12%。這項調查結果非常關鍵，因爲美國非醫療卵子冷凍的客戶平均年齡便是37.4歲。

Amid the latest tech perk bragging rights, sobering facts about the procedure’s limitations and the associated risks have been overlooked and underreported.

最近科技公司的福利被大肆吹捧的時候，人們卻忽視了卵子冷凍的侷限性和相關風險這些值得深思的事實，媒體更是鮮有報道。

First, most people don’t realize the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the ASRM do not endorse the use of egg freezing to defer childbearing. The ASRM’s decision to lift the “experimental” label from this still young procedure in 2012 only applied to medically indicated need, such as women with cancer.

首先，大多數人並未意識到，美國婦產科醫師協會（American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists）和ASRM並不贊成通過卵子冷凍來推遲生育。ASRM取消該項新興技術“實驗性質”的決定，僅適用於醫學需要，例如患有癌症的女性。

Second, there are no guarantees for a successful or healthy pregnancy and delivery. In order to attempt pregnancy, egg freezing must be followed by in vitro fertilization (IVF) with another laboratory procedure, a technique known as ICSI (Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection). For the latest flash freezing process trumpeted by enterprising fertility clinics and a host of profit-driven service providers, the most comprehensive data available reveals a 77% failure rate of frozen eggs resulting in a live birth in women aged 30, and a 91% failure rate in women aged 40.

其次，該技術沒有成功或健康懷孕和生產的保證。爲了懷孕，卵子冷凍必須配合另外一套實驗室程序——體外受精（IVF），該項技術被稱爲ICSI（卵母細胞胞漿內單精子注射）。以企業性質的生育診所和大批以盈利爲目的的服務商所鼓吹的最新瞬間冷凍技術爲例，最全面的數據顯示，30歲女性冷凍卵子活產失敗率爲77%，而40歲女性的失敗率高達91%。

But the dry statistics don’t take into account the very real emotional strain and trauma that often accompanies artificial reproduction and their frequent failures. Silicon Valley celebrates success. Even business failure can be accepted as an opportunity to learn. But failure takes on a much deeper personal meaning when it involves parenthood expectations.

然而，枯燥的統計數據並未考慮到人工生殖及其頻繁的失敗所帶來的真實情感壓力與創傷。硅谷讚頌成功。即使經營失敗也會被認爲是學習的機會。但當上父母的期望落空，對於個人卻有着更深層的影響。

I have seen the good, the bad and the ugly where fertility medicine is concerned. The first time I visited a fertility clinic I was 33 and in great health. I met with an ASRM affiliated doctor who received his training at Stanford University. My attempts were paid out of pocket (none of my employers offered infertility benefits). I pursued increasingly complex procedures including egg retrievals and ICSI IVF with both fresh and frozen embryo transfers.

我曾見證過生育醫學好的、壞的和醜陋的各個方面。我第一次去一家生育診所，只有33歲，身體健康。我遇到一位附屬於ASRM的醫生，他在斯坦福大學（Stanford University）接受過培訓。當時我的費用全部是自掏腰包（我的僱主沒有提供不孕不育福利）。我經歷了越來越複雜的程序，例如取卵，ICSI IVF，包括新鮮胚胎與冷凍胚胎植入。