On August 26, boba_girl linked egg and embryo freezing to planning how many children to have

On August 26, boba_girl linked egg and embryo freezing to planning how many children to have

A LessWrong user named boba_girl wrote a post after the Reproductive Frontiers conference in June. She treats egg freezing, embryo creation, and polygenic screening as connected decisions about timing, choice of partner, and the number of children she may be able to have.

In the post, boba_girl begins with her own situation: she wants children but is still looking for a partner. “I think once I find a partner, I’ll also try to freeze some embryos,” she writes. Until then, storing eggs gives her more time to choose a partner.

Embryos are created once she has a partner, and their number helps a family estimate how many attempts at having a child they can plan for. In her reasoning, the choice between freezing eggs and freezing embryos therefore connects two decisions: preserving flexibility in choosing a partner and estimating in advance how many embryos may be available.

In the consumer market for polygenic embryo selection, the process consists of successive cycles of in vitro fertilization (IVF), genetic testing, and selection. boba_girl begins the sequence at an earlier stage by asking which options should be preserved before any embryos exist.

Polygenic embryo selection compares embryos that have already been created using statistical predictions of disease risks and certain complex traits derived from genetic data. The number of viable embryos determines both how many options can be compared and how many potential attempts at having a child remain available.

Her post presents reproductive technology as a stepwise part of family planning: first freeze eggs, then decide with a partner whether to create embryos, and finally choose among the embryos that result.