Social egg freezing: Brazilian legal overview and brief ethical discussions Gabriela Lima Valença Almeida

Abstract

This article presents a survey of Brazilian regulations governing the medical technique of egg freezing, and promotes a debate on the ethical issues surrounding the performance of so-called social egg freezing or elective oocyte cryopreservation. Through a bibliographic and legislative search in different databases, such as academic repositories of Federal Universities and the website of the Chamber of Deputies, it was found that almost all existing regulations on egg freezing in Brazil are found in Resolution 2,320/2022 of the Federal Council of Medicine. It was concluded that social egg freezing, although an achievement in the list of women's reproductive rights, involves high costs and some sensitive ethical issues, which can be overcome with better legal regulation on the subject, broad dissemination of scientific information, education and counseling on fertility, and free and informed consent of patients.