The new cabinet ruling comes with a couple of restrictions as well.
In America, tech companies like the Facebook and Google offer their employees the ability and financial perks to access egg-freezing capabilities to encourage them to delay their pregnancies.
While the rules of egg and embryo freezing differ across the world, here in the UAE unmarried women weren’t allowed to freeze their eggs. However, that’s now set to change.
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Everything you need to know about freezing your eggs in the UAE
Egg freezing in the UAE
According to a report in The National, a recent cabinet decision has ruled that unmarried women and couples can now indeed freeze their eggs in the UAE.
The exact parameters of the new ruling haven’t yet been announced, but expect some restrictions to be in place as well. For example, while unmarried women above the age of 35 would probably be eligible for the procedure, unmarried women in their 20s might not.
Also, only women undergoing medical treatments like chemotherapy which could harm their chance of conceiving would be automatically eligible for the freezing process.
The same restrictions will likely not apply to married couples who want to freeze their eggs, provided they can furnish a marriage certificate.
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In 2012, the Ministry of Health banned the freezing of embryos and exceptions were made only on a case-to-case basis after petitioning the ministry.
The whole process of freezing your eggs costs around Dhs20,000 and the takes about 10-12 days to complete. With the new cabinet ruling, women will no longer need to travel overseas to acquire the treatment they require to freeze their eggs.
Further details about the scope of this new ruling are expected soon.
Images: Getty
