Egg freezing for non-medical reasons, also known as social egg freezing, is an increasingly popular method for women to preserve their fertility in order to have children at a later date.
The BBC analysed the websites of the 78 fertility clinics that advertise private egg freezing in the UK.
We found 32 websites (41%) didn’t make clear a patient’s chance of successfully having a baby in the future.
Of that group, most of the websites were advertising successful thaw rates of 80-95% – a process where eggs are defrosted to be used in fertility treatments.
But these clinics did not make clear that the chances of having a baby are dramatically lower because there are multiple stages of the process before an embryo is successfully implanted, through fertility treatments such as IVF.
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The BBC analysis also found that 31 of the clinics published defrost rates without stating how many patients the information was based on or specifying their sources.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), the government watchdog, has guidance about the information which should appear on clinic websites.
It says egg freezing is a “significant financial and emotional commitment” and patients must be “properly informed” about success rates and costs.
