Why Corporate America Must Cover Egg Freezing Costs for Women

As inflation drives up prices, one cost disproportionately impacts women: the “egg freezing tax.” In 2023, more than 40,000 women froze their eggs—a medically safe and proven method to extend reproductive options and gain control over family timing.

This trend has grown due to declining fertility rates, delayed family planning, and rising numbers of women choosing single motherhood by choice. Despite founding three companies, one entrepreneur described freezing her eggs as the hardest task she’s ever undertaken.

In her early 30s, while launching her first startup in San Francisco, she balanced self-administered hormone injections, complex medication schedules, and the demands of running a business. After four cycles—all paid entirely out of pocket—she confronted the harsh realities of the system. At roughly $20,000 per cycle, egg freezing is a financial hurdle few can clear. Women are spending over $50,000 to preserve their biological family dreams.

Ironically, the years when egg freezing is most effective—women’s early 30s—are also when career-driven professionals prioritize climbing the corporate ladder with minimal disposable income. A $50,000 out-of-pocket expense at 30 isn’t just a short-term cost. Invested over 30 years at average market returns, that same sum could grow to between $400,000 and $800,000 by retirement.

The Silent Tax on Women and the Economy

The “egg freezing tax” is more than a personal burden—it’s a public policy failure with macroeconomic consequences. When fertility preservation and treatment require out-of-pocket spending, the individuals most likely to delay or forgo parenthood are also those the economy relies on to remain in the workforce: educated, urban, high-skill workers facing severe career penalties for mistimed childbearing.

Data reveals fertility rates are now below replacement level in nearly every OECD country. The organization warns that sustained low fertility threatens future prosperity, labor supply, and public finances. U.S. birth rates have hit record lows, and for the first time in history, more American women are having babies in their 40s than as teenagers.

A low-birth-rate environment directly affects the workforce: aging populations raise the old-age dependency ratio, shrinking the labor pool and straining tax bases and care systems. Egg freezing is not just a personal choice—it is part of the essential family-formation infrastructure, alongside childcare and paid leave. Fertility preservation enables women to invest in their families when they need support most.

If employers and governments only support the back end of family formation—such as childcare and parental leave—without addressing the front end, they leave a critical timing gap unresolved.

Who Bears the Burden?

These costs fall hardest on marginalized groups. For example, LGBTQIA+ families often know from early in their careers that they’ll need medical assistance to have biological children, yet rarely have workplace benefits covering egg, sperm, or embryo freezing. As young professionals struggle to pay the “egg freezing tax,” they face impossible trade-offs between career growth and family dreams.