advocacy [ˈædvəkəsɪ]: active support of a cause
Just this week I have received 5 emails from women who want to tell their stories for Eggsurance's 'Women Like You' page. What is it with egg freezing that spurs women into advocacy? Why do we all get on our respective reproductive soapboxes once we have frozen our eggs? You see it with the quantity of egg freezing blogs and articles that are now surfacing. Women want to speak out.
I believe that we are driven to advocacy because many of us just didn't know. We didn't know how quickly fertility declines after 35. We didn't know that we have a less than 10% chance of natural pregnancy after 40. We didn't know much at all about our own fertility. And when we dive into our research and start to understand more about our own bodies we are often angry, embarrassed and annoyed that we did not know more. Why didn't anyone tell us?
And then the advocacy begins. Maybe we looked into egg freezing too late. Maybe we froze our eggs. Maybe we are considering freezing our eggs. It doesn't really matter. What matters is the common bond that unites us. Once we know more about our own fertility, we want to share our own experience and help ease the way for other women. We post our own names. We share our pictures. We are not ashamed to be open about fertility. It is no longer.. ssshhh... the dreading "F" word.
As Jenni who recently froze 9 eggs so eloquently says in her case study, “There have been many women before you. There will be countless women after you. You're not alone." Let's continue the discussion and speak out. If you would like to share your story with us, please send contact: [email protected]