Across elite sports, a debate is growing over whether professional sporting bodies should support female athletes in freezing their eggs.
The Royal Spanish Football Federation recently announced an agreement to fund egg freezing and fertility treatments for its players, the first national federation to do so. Under the partnership, valid until 2029, the World Cup winners will “be given more options to pursue motherhood when they feel the time is right”, said ESPN.
It follows similar briefings by the National Women’s Soccer League in the US and Chelsea F.C. Women in the UK, as well as other sporting leagues like the Women's National Basketball Association and Women’s Tennis Association. But experts and athletes have raised concerns about the ethics of employer-offered fertility treatments and whether they truly support athletes during pregnancy and after they become parents.
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‘Powerful message’
“Elite athletes have been choosing to freeze their eggs on their own for years,” said El País – when they can “find a gap” in their intense schedules. What’s new is that national teams, leagues and clubs are “beginning to take charge of the process”.
This year, the governing body of European football, Uefa, recommended including fertility and reproductive treatments in employment policies. And this month, Chelsea became the first Women’s Super League club to provide a fund for its squad to freeze their eggs and access fertility services. The fund, understood to be worth at least £189,000, is enough for the entire squad to freeze their eggs at a clinic in London’s Harley Street, said The Observer, “making it the most significant investment into fertility treatment from a women’s sports team in the UK”.
The Spanish federation “understands that you are serving your country against your biological clock, that you cannot stop and cannot be a mother because you need your body to work”, said former Spain captain Alexia Putellas. The footballers who want to become mothers “do not find it easy to fit it in” alongside World Cups.
Fertility services are a huge step forward in giving women more choices, and they send “the powerful message” that champions “should not have to choose between their sport and motherhood”, said Sarah Carson in The i Paper. But “fertility” only goes halfway.
‘Double-edged sword’
Fertility preservation measures are “typically presented as another way to give women in elite sport greater freedom”, said CBC News. But some worry they could inadvertently “perpetuate the attitude that women should wait for retirement” to become mothers.
For many LGBTQ+ athletes, IVF is a necessary part of family planning regardless of timing, said two-time Olympic rower Jill Moffatt. In that sense, funding egg freezing and fertility treatments is a “huge win”. Plus, many athletes likely couldn’t afford expensive fertility treatments. But it’s only a feminist “win” if teams offer support during pregnancy and postpartum, such as maternity leave, breastfeeding facilities and child care options. “Otherwise, it’s kind of a double-edged sword,” she told the news site.
Investing in post-partum training, nutrition specialists, bespoke after-care plans and reintegration programmes is “more inclusive and pioneering than any offer of fertility treatment – and just as important”, said Carson.
Ana Peleteiro-Compaoré Brión, a Spanish Olympic triple jumper, also criticised the Spanish federation's move. “Is this measure intended to make it easier for women to be mothers, or is it intended to make it easier for them not to be while they’re playing?” she posted on Instagram.
When an organisation offers fertility preservation, it brings up the question of whether “the underlying message is that you’re telling your players, ‘Don’t get pregnant while you’re working for us’”, Lamia Zafrani, an athlete gynaecologist, told DW.
The other difficulty is scheduling treatment around training and fixtures. Egg freezing involves multiple appointments, hormone injections and a minor operation. The challenge was highlighted by former England goalkeeper Mary Earps in her book “All In”, who recalled asking an expert: “I’ve got three weeks. Do you think I could fit in an egg-freezing cycle in that time?”
Drugs that are used to stimulate egg production for egg freezing or IVF are also banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency, meaning athletes must disclose the medication. “Because there is still some stigma about egg freezing, some female athletes do not want people to know they’re undergoing this procedure,” Margie Davenport, the perinatal research lead for Fifa’s female athlete project, told The Athletic.
Ultimately, “fertility timelines will not change,” said the news site, “but the sport’s infrastructure must.”
