It would cost me around 7 thousand euros if I wanted to freeze my eggs, without considering the drugs and the costs of annual storage. Nothing (or little more) if I had a tumor, but if I had endometriosis or ran the risk of early menopause, I could forget about the public route.
This is what happens in Italy, where diagnoses of female infertility increase every year, where people choose (or have to) to have a child later and later and where freezing eggs would therefore be an appropriate measure in these times. But it isn’t.
For this reason, the Stati Fresche collective has launched a petition, asking that the social freezing is covered by the NHS. Only in France, for example, preventive cryopreservation is guaranteed by the State up to the age of 40, while in Italy it is a private and never equal expense, which even changes from region to region.
What (doesn’t) happen in Italy
In Italy, fertility protection is not considered a separate health right. The public service almost only covers oncofertility pathways, i.e. the conservation of oocytes before oncological treatments that could compromise it. Everything else – chronic diseases, premature ovarian failure, endometriosis, choosing to postpone motherhood – falls on the shoulders of people, who must turn to the private sector.
The costs are not within everyone’s reach: a cryopreservation cycle ranges on average from 5,000 to 7,000 euros, with rare lower exceptions in some regions (2,000–3,000 euros). To these is added the annual conservation fee, from 100 to 300 euros, which varies between affiliated public structures and private centers.
At a regulatory level we are stuck with Law 40 of 2004, designed for the PMA. In the absence of a law dedicated to preventive cryopreservation, confusion reigns: the procedure continues to be treated as an “accessory” of medically assisted procreation, when in reality its objective is to prevent future loss of fertility.
The result is a divided country. Some regions – such as Puglia, Lazio and partly Emilia-Romagna – have started experimental projects or subsidized paths, often linked to specific clinical conditions and the availability of local funds. Others offer no support at all, even in the most serious cases.
In fact, today cryopreservation is an economic privilege. The data collected by We are Fresh confirm it: many women discover this possibility too late, when the ovarian reserve is already reduced or after a diagnosis that would have required early intervention.
From this was born the campaign “Let’s freeze eggs, not rights”, to ask for the recognition of preventive cryopreservation as a public health service.
Such an uneven system leaves behind those who most need prevention and equal access to treatment. It’s time to take a step forward.
