By NATSUNO OTAHARA/ Staff Writer
January 17, 2024 at 17:40 JST
The Tokyo metropolitan government building in the capital’s Shinjuku Ward (Asahi Shimbun file photo)
About 1,650 women in Tokyo, five times more than anticipated, applied for the metropolitan government’s subsidy program to freeze their eggs, showing the strong interest in postponing pregnancy.
More applicants are expected as about 5,700 more women have attended or applied to attend a briefing session required before applying for the program.
The metropolitan government expected 300 applicants when it started the program in September to address the declining birthrate.
Two hundred women have already undergone an egg-freezing procedure under the program, the first among prefectural-level governments.
The metropolitan government said it plans to secure the financial resources to provide subsidies to all applicants who meet the program's requirements.
Egg freezing enables women to delay pregnancy until they have a more conducive environment for childbirth and child-rearing.
Eggs are collected when the women are still relatively young as a woman’s egg count diminishes, and the quality of the eggs deteriorates, with age.
Under the subsidy program, a woman can receive up to 200,000 yen ($1,370) for the year she freezes her eggs and 20,000 yen annually for a maximum of five years after the procedure.
Health insurance does not cover the cost of egg freezing, which differs depending on the medical institution and procedures.
More than 60 percent of medical institutions that responded to a metropolitan government survey said the maximum cost was either between 400,000 yen and 500,000 yen or between 500,000 yen and 600,000 yen.
Women who live in Tokyo between the ages of 18 and 39 are eligible.
Those in the 35-39 age group accounted for 53 percent of the 7,314 women who applied to attend the briefing session as of Jan. 9.
Fifty-seven briefing sessions have already been held since October.
The Japan Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology generally advises healthy women against freezing their eggs due to potential health hazards and risks associated with delayed childbearing.
At the metropolitan government’s briefing session, the risks to the mother in having a later-in-life pregnancy and childbirth and other potential problems are explained alongside the advantages of egg freezing.
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