'Outrageous' egg-freezing costs force some women to take drastic steps for pregnancy

Fertility Inc. is a multi-part series by the Investigative Journalism Bureau that delves into the Wild West of the egg-freezing industry: its aggressive marketing, its high costs, and the chances of an eventual successful pregnancy.

When Christina Wang first looked into freezing her eggs at a Toronto clinic in late 2024, she was quoted $6,500 for the procedure and another $4,000 to $6,000 for related medications.

But by the time she was ready to begin her cycle in July 2025, the price for the procedure had jumped to $7,500, while the estimated cost for medications had risen from $6,000 to $8,000.

The clinic claimed her original quote was a “promotion.” This explanation, however, appeared nowhere in Wang’s initial email correspondence with the clinic.

“I was pretty ticked off,” says the 28-year-old medical student, who ended up sourcing cheaper medications online so she could manage the costs of her procedure.

The Investigative Journalism Bureau (IJB) spent eight months analyzing Canada’s burgeoning egg-freezing industry. Egg freezing involves collecting and storing eggs — sometimes for months or years — until a woman wants to have a baby, at which point the eggs are thawed.

There are no national regulations governing what fertility clinics can charge. When the IJB analyzed the websites of the 42 Canadian fertility clinics marketing egg freezing, reporters found one-third provided no upfront pricing.

Where information exists, the IJB also found that medication fees can sometimes climb to nearly double the advertised egg-freezing price. In addition, women are sometimes upsold unproven add-ons that are marketed as necessary.

“I think it’s unethical not to tell somebody all the costs,” said Janet Takefman, a former director of psychological services at the McGill University Reproductive Centre, which is one of the few publicly funded fertility clinics. “Do I think the costs are outrageous? I do.”

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Some women took increasingly drastic steps to afford the procedure, because they believed egg freezing was a form of insurance for having children as they aged, the IJB found.

One Ontario student in her 30s said she considered bootlegging alcohol to pay for the procedure, while others reported doing free social media promotions for clinics in exchange for lower fees. Lindsay Martin, 38, of Vaughan, said she withdrew money from her RRSPs. Lucy Chadwick of Burlington borrowed from a relative to undergo the procedure at 33. Barbara d’Oro, 41, travelled from Ottawa to Brazil, where, she said, it was cheaper to freeze her eggs.

While egg-freezing can be an important reproductive tool — for cancer patients at risk of infertility, or women who want an extra option for motherhood later in life — the IJB found many clinics fail to make it clear that the heavy financial investment will not always result in a child.

Among the clinics that do publish prices, rates range from $6,500 to $13,000 for one cycle of egg freezing. Additional mandatory fees include medication costs of $3,000 to $9,000, while the annual bill to store frozen eggs fluctuates between $300 and $1,000.

Some clinics also promote “add-ons” that can significantly increase the final bill, while not necessarily increasing the chances of a live baby. Of the 27 clinic websites with price lists, nearly all — 93 per cent — offered additional options such as the analysis of egg quality using artificial intelligence.

“We see a lot of unnecessary add-ons that aren’t really scientifically proven to be effective, but they bring in the money,” said Takefman.

Takefman said some women struggling with fertility are very vulnerable to up-sells. “Every time something new comes out, fertility patients are so desperate they can’t really say no to anything. They’re kind of sitting ducks.”

The IJB found some clinics fold the cost of such new AI tools into their advertised egg-freezing prices, while others, such as the Ottawa Fertility Centre, market these tools as add-ons. In the Ottawa centre’s case, a tool called Violet AI is listed as a $525 add-on.

Violet AI is an image analysis tool that assesses individual eggs to estimate their likelihood of successful fertilization and early embryo development.

Dr. Dan Nayot, co-founder of Future Fertility , the company that developed Violet AI, and medical director of a network of fertility clinics, co-authored research that concluded the AI tool outperformed experienced embryologists in predicting the potential for an egg to develop into an embryo.

The tool is said to identify visual patterns in eggs associated with positive outcomes and to provide individualized insights beyond standard age-based statistics to support fertility planning. However, some experts say marketing of the technology in some cases implies something much more far-reaching.

Alberta’s Oasis Fertility markets Violet AI on its Instagram account as “Enhancing pregnancy success by measuring egg quality,” and describes it on its website as “our step towards fool-proofing the egg-freezing process.”

In an interview with the IJB alongside Nayot, Future Fertility CEO Christy Prada said she “cringed” when reporters presented the Oasis advertising claim via email.

“I’m not aligned with saying it’s ‘enhancing pregnancy success’ — that’s a bit reaching,” said Prada, who said the same for claims about steps toward “fool-proofing” the egg-freezing process.

“Basically a lot of how Oasis talks about it … I would say, does not meet our standards.”

Prada and Nayot say they work with more than 300 clinics worldwide and do their best to oversee advertising.

“I feel we do a good job in general, but we need another layer to make sure that things like this don’t happen,” said Prada.

Dr. Imran Pirwany, medical director of Oasis Fertility, said in an interview that he was not aware of the post. However, he said his “lack of knowledge” does not mean “innocence,” adding that he takes “ultimate responsibility for the content” and would work with his team to address it.

Prada said the Violet technology is not intended to improve outcomes but to provide women greater insight about their eggs to inform their decisions.

“We can’t change the quality of the egg, so doing (Violet AI) on an egg isn’t going to change the live birth outcome,” she said. “The point is to bring transparency and understand the likelihood of these eggs creating a healthy pregnancy that can lead to live birth.”

Dr. Arthur Leader, a University of Ottawa emeritus professor of obstetrics and gynecology who has worked in fertility for 45 years, said he has seen no studies that prove the necessity of Violet AI to improve egg-freezing outcomes.

“The bottom line is, there may be promise with the AI, but it’s not there yet,” he said. “If it’s being sold as something that you ought to do, then there is no scientific basis for it.”

The Canadian Fertility and Andrology Society , a national association representing fertility specialists, does not set uniform pricing. Instead, it says clinics should clearly disclose all costs in an itemized and accessible way, including retrieval, laboratory fees, annual storage and any additional services.

In 2025, the CFAS expanded its Choosing Wisely Canada recommendations, identifying nine fertility interventions that patients and providers should question when they are used.

The list includes treatments often added to in vitro fertilization, such as assisted hatching; genetic testing of embryos known as PGT A; and endometrial receptivity testing. Multiple studies have found that there is limited evidence they improve the chances of having a baby, but they can drive up costs.

The IJB found that AI technology is, in some instances, included in the egg-freezing cost without being clearly itemized.

Catherine J. Lalonde, who attended a Montreal clinic for an egg-freezing consultation in 2022, when she was 36, says this happened to her. Freezing her eggs cost her about $8,000 out of pocket, a figure that would have doubled without workplace insurance covering 80 per cent of her medications.

After her egg retrieval, she requested her medical records and was given a Violet report. It was only then, she said, that she discovered the technology had been bundled into the cost of her procedure. The item was also not listed on her invoice.

“No one told me about it before,” said Lalonde.

Nayot and Prada say they leave it up to clinics to decide how they market Violet, but said they support transparency.

The IJB also found that some clinics did not explain that costs continue to mount after egg freezing. The thawing of these eggs, for example, can cost $10,000, while in vitro fertilization can cost up to $20,000 per round.

Other companies have partnered with financing companies to provide potential customers with financing options.

Victory Reproductive Care, with four locations in southern Ontario, does not publish explicit pricing online but its website prominently features a financing calculator from Beautifi, a Canadian financing company focused on elective medical procedures.

Financing has become routine as a way to make egg freezing more affordable. Clinics commonly partner with lenders such as Affirm, Medicard, and Beautifi to offer payment plans.

Dr. Rahi Victory, medical director at Victory Reproductive Care, said in an email that the intention in offering financial options, including partnership with third party providers, is to reduce barriers to access for patients.

“We believe that access to fertility care should not be limited solely to those with immediate financial means, and financing can play a role in expanding that access when used responsibly and with appropriate patient education,” he said.

Victory also said egg freezing is “not always an appropriate choice,” citing low live birth rates, and that patients receive detailed, itemized cost breakdowns, including what is and isn’t covered and medication estimates.

British Columbia, Ontario, and Quebec cover portions of IVF treatment, including consultations and procedures, but typically classify elective egg freezing as non-medical or preventative.

A few private corporations include egg freezing as part of their fertility benefits package for female employees. The IJB analyzed the fertility benefits of 20 Canadian employers offering coverage and found lifetime maximums ranged widely, from as little as $2,400 to as much as $130,000.

But most women interviewed by the IJB had no such support and paid entirely out of pocket.

— With files from Jacob Marion and Vihaan Bhatnagar

The Investigative Journalism Bureau (IJB) at the University of Toronto’s Dalla Lana School of Public Health is a collaborative investigative newsroom supported by Postmedia that partners with academics, researchers and journalists while training the next generation of investigative reporters.

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