Egg freezing is a booming business in Canada. Here's how women are oversold on the likelihood of success

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

At age 29, Lianne Wing-Martins began thinking seriously about having a baby. She’d been hearing about egg freezing for years, through social media and advertising by celebrities who made it seem like a viable plan to ensure a future family.

Single and not quite ready to have children, Wing-Martins visited her family doctor in April 2025. The doctor referred her to a private clinic in Toronto.

Wing-Martins booked a consultation to gather information. But she says she came away feeling overwhelmed — not just by the $9,000 price tag for the procedure, which did not include hormone medications or annual egg storage fees — but by the pressure she says she suddenly felt to act quickly.

After walking her through the egg-freezing process, she says, the clinic doctor told her unequivocally that “now is the perfect time to freeze your eggs.”

“I felt this urge of like, oh my gosh, I need to do this ASAP,” Wing-Martins says.

While egg freezing was originally developed in the 1980s to help women undergoing treatments that threatened their fertility, such as chemotherapy, Canadian women have legally been able to freeze eggs for personal or family planning reasons since 2012.

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. Then, using a process called in vitro fertilization, the eggs are fertilized with sperm to create embryos, which are transferred to the uterus to try to achieve pregnancy.

Today, the egg-freezing industry is booming.

In Canada, it more than doubled from 2020 to 2024, according to data from the Canadian Fertility and Andrology Society (CFAS). Yet, of the 4.1 million babies born in Canada between 2013 and 2023, just 70 are known to have come from frozen eggs, according to CFAS data. Industry insiders say the number of babies born from frozen eggs is low for two reasons: lower survival rates for eggs through freezing, thawing, fertilization and implantation stages; and because many women who paid for this elective procedure have not yet tried to use those eggs. Most will end up never using them.

Even so, women in Canada paid millions to freeze their eggs between 2013 and 2023.

The Investigative Journalism Bureau (IJB) spent eight months analyzing how egg freezing is marketed to women such as Wing-Martins. It uncovered multiple concerns in an industry some experts describe as rife with misleading advertising, emotional manipulation, limited transparency about results, and financial exploitation.

In the absence of strong government oversight, many private fertility clinics use aggressive marketing strategies that appear to exploit some women’s reproductive anxiety and overstate egg freezing as a solution, the IJB investigation found.

It’s not known exactly how many egg-freezing clinics there are in Canada. There is no definitive national list of such clinics, and oversight varies by province. Only Quebec requires fertility clinics to be licensed and maintains a public registry of assisted reproductive centres on its government website. Provinces such as Ontario and British Columbia primarily maintain lists only of clinics tied to publicly funded fertility programs, such as IVF.

CFAS’s latest known total is 47 fertility clinics in Canada with a lab on site. All but one market egg-freezing services.

IJB reporters carefully analyzed the websites and social media accounts of 42 clinics it was able to identify as marketing egg freezing. These clinics represent a combined 110 storefront locations across seven provinces. Of the 42, three are affiliated with public hospitals. At least 19 are physician-owned, while at least 17 others have ties to private equity firms through ownership or investment.

The analysis determined that 35 of them made what the IJB concluded were either misleading or overstated claims — often implying that women could have certainty or flexibility over their future fertility through egg freezing. In fact, only about 25 per cent of embryos created from frozen eggs and transferred to wombs in Canada between 2013 and 2023 resulted in a live birth, according to data published by CFAS. That ratio is consistent with international data on live birth outcomes among people who returned to use their frozen eggs, with success rates generally ranging between 25 and 35 per cent.

CFAS is a non-profit representing reproductive specialists and allied health professionals. Not a regulatory body, it shares annual summary statistics based on data compiled on the Canadian Assisted Reproductive Technologies Registry (CARTR), a voluntary national registry to which clinics can report treatment outcomes. Data from individual clinics is not published, but generalized data from 37 clinics is reflected in the CFAS 2025 reporting statistics.

Some fertility experts consulted by the IJB say promises that egg freezing will allow women to have a baby whenever they choose are far-fetched.

Kathleen Hammond, an associate professor at the Lincoln Alexander School of Law at Toronto Metropolitan University and a leading Canadian expert on egg freezing, has long raised concerns about how the procedure is marketed.

“The advertising is coming across so strongly, and not providing any kind of real data about what success means and what the risks are,” she says.

Consider these examples identified in the IJB’s analysis:

• “What if you could decide when to have a baby, without worrying about your biological clock? Sounds too good to be true, right? Well, not anymore,” reads an Instagram post by Montreal’s OriginElle Fertility. “Thanks to #eggfreezing, you can preserve your eggs for later use and have more control over your #fertility.”

• Ontario-based NewLife Fertility echoes sentiments about offering reproductive “control” through egg freezing, adding that it means women can look forward to “no pressure. No rush. Just options,” for when they consider having children. “Your body, your choice, your future,” it says on its website .

• Evolve, a Toronto-based clinic, on its website tells clients that through egg freezing they can delay or, as the clinic puts it, “hit the snooze button” on parenthood.

• On Instagram , the Pacific Centre for Reproductive Medicine (PCRM) in Vancouver and Edmonton posted an image of a pregnant belly, promising “one day you’ll be staring at the miracle you used to dream about.”

In an interview with the IJB, Dr. Seang Lin Tan, founder and medical director at OriginElle, said he agrees this part of the clinic’s messaging is “not really a hundred per cent accurate,” but said it reflects language used by “virtually every clinic.” He told reporters he is open to “re-evaluating” it, though he did not commit to removing the language.

Tan says he and his clinicians do have “in-depth conversations” with patients to ensure they understand that egg freezing is not a guarantee of pregnancy.

A statement from Evolve founder and CEO Nicole Condon said its public-facing messaging is intended to “encourage women to seek information to make an informed choice, and start a clinical conversation.”

Neither NewLife nor PCRM responded directly to questions about their marketing but in an unattributed email response, PCRM said the clinic does not present egg freezing as a “guarantee of future pregnancy.”

The clinic’s website notes: “Unfortunately, egg quality cannot be tested” but can be “inferred” based on age.

Posing as would-be clients, two IJB reporters attended an egg-freezing party at the upscale Toronto location of clinic Pollin Fertility, where appetizers and champagne were served. The event was promoted on the clinic’s Instagram as an opportunity to “learn everything you need to know about securing your fertility future with egg freezing.” About 50 potential clients, mostly women who appeared to be in their 20s and 30s, attended.

A PowerPoint presentation included a photo of actress Jennifer Aniston with her viral 2022 quote about wishing someone had told her earlier to freeze her eggs. (There was no indication that the actress endorses the clinic.)

A Pollin doctor at the event described egg freezing as “insurance.” In a video, a patient framed the process as simple, and said that she was given “the coziest robe I have ever put on.”

Another physician at the event said that future chances of pregnancy correlate directly with the number of eggs frozen and the age at which they are frozen.

Pollin CEO Melody Adahmi said in a statement to the IJB that Pollin’s website and “educational events” are “introductory sessions designed to provide general information” about egg freezing and reproductive aging.

“Patients who wish to explore treatment further are directed to a formal consultation, fertility assessment, and detailed counselling about risks, costs, expected outcomes, and the limitations of treatment,” Adahmi said.

Egg freezing is a weeks-long process that includes daily hormone doses to stimulate the ovaries to produce multiple eggs, which are then harvested and frozen for potential fertilization and implantation in the uterus at a future date, in hopes of producing a successful pregnancy. The process, which can cost up to $20,000 for a single cycle, can be an important tool for women seeking more fertility options.

But while egg retrieval itself is a relatively simple procedure, patients undergo weeks of self-administering medications first, and some find this physically and emotionally difficult. Experts warn women should be told that going through this process still does not guarantee those frozen eggs will later lead to a baby.

Catherine J. Lalonde is one of the women whose efforts were unsuccessful.

She froze her eggs in Montreal in 2022, when she was 36, anxious over her ticking biological clock but not yet in a position to have children. When she returned to use them seven months later, the results were heartbreaking. Of the seven frozen eggs, only three survived the thawing process, and none developed into viable embryos.

“I was devastated,” said Lalonde, who has since had a baby naturally and now regrets the thousands of dollars she invested in egg freezing at the Montreal clinic. She had viewed the procedure as a form of “insurance,” but does not feel she was adequately informed about all her options by the medical team.

“For me, it was like a big, big, big slap in the face,” she said.

Lalonde’s experience isn’t unique: the IJB found numerous marketing trends pushing women toward the process, with 26 clinics using language that promises “peace of mind” through egg freezing. Roughly three out of every four clinics examined by the IJB used some sort of pressure-driven language: words such as “biological clock waits for no one,” or emphasizing declining fertility with age and urging women to consider egg freezing as early as possible.

While the probability of live birth is higher at younger ages, experts say the high cost of egg freezing and low actual usage of the frozen eggs later make timing a key consideration.

Unless a woman expects to delay having children for several years, the experts point to a sweet spot in the early 30s, when eggs are relatively young but preservation is more practical than it would be earlier or later.

On its website , NewLife Fertility tells women in their 20s that eggs should be frozen “the earlier, the better” so that they can avoid “fertility decline in your 30s” and ensure “higher quality and quantity.” NewLife did not directly respond to questions about its marketing of egg freezing, instead referring reporters to “educational material” about the procedure.

“Starting in your 20s, the choices you make today can protect your future possibilities,” says Anova Fertility in an Instagram post . “Egg freezing is helping more Canadians take charge of their future family plans.” Anova did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

“When is the best time to freeze your eggs? The answer is today!” says the Evolve Fertility website , which encourages women in their 20s to freeze, when their bodies are at their “reproductive peak.”

In a statement, Evolve CEO Condon said the company’s messaging “is designed to inform women of their reproductive peak so they can make choices while they still have the most options.” Their physicians discuss with younger patients whether freezing is “personally appropriate,” rather than presenting it as a “one-size-fits-all” recommendation, Condon said.

Zeynep Gurtin, a lecturer in women’s health at University College London, led a 2021 study analyzing the marketing of elective egg freezing by fertility clinic websites in the United Kingdom.

Gurtin believes elective egg freezing “has the potential to be really helpful” for women in their early 30s who want to increase their chances of having a baby when they are a bit older. But she argues aggressive marketing targeting younger women is inappropriate when they still have years to have a baby naturally.

“Why most women in their mid 20s would be tempted into egg freezing, other than hype and exaggerated advertising, I have no idea,” she said.

Clinics rarely make their success-rate data public, leaving Canadian patients unable to assess how well a specific clinic performs.

In addition to examining marketing techniques, the IJB spoke with 30 women about their experiences with the fertility industry. In the absence of transparent information from clinics, many said they relied on word of mouth from friends, social media and celebrity narratives.

This hinders them from making informed decisions, said Hammond. “I think the industry is very effective at creating this perceived sense of control, and marketing of the technology is such that … to be a good woman, this is something that you should do.”

Asked about clinic marketing, Emily McIntosh, executive director of CFAS, said in a statement, “There is a distinct difference between promotion and education.” She said oversight of clinics’ marketing by federal and provincial regulators could “play a role in supporting accurate and responsible communication” and help ensure information is “evidence-based and not misleading.”

While Canadians seeking fertility treatment mainly relied on hospitals in the past, now most procedures are offered at clinics, more than 90 per cent of which are private businesses.

Canadians spent up to an estimated $120 million during the decade 2013 to 2023 on 6,242 egg-freezing retrievals, preserving 65,517 eggs, CFAS data says. Which does not mean they took the next step of trying to have them fertilized and implanted. Most either have not done so yet, or never will.

This tracks with outcomes in other countries. For example, a 2025 study from the University of California, Los Angeles found that, between 2014 and 2016, just 5.7 per cent of American patients came back to use their eggs within five to seven years.

Low uptake and success rates haven’t stopped some clinics from offering aggressive financing plans. An IJB reporter, posing as a prospective patient, undertook a free 30-minute phone consultation with Evolve — an egg-freezing clinic affiliated with Trio Fertility in Toronto — and afterwards received followup messages encouraging her to act quickly.

“0% financing for 6 months,” read one email from Evolve. “Start now, pay later … Flexible monthly payments … No money down.”

In response, Evolve’s Condon said the clinic believes in making the investment as “transparent and manageable as possible,” and the incentive is “intended to provide patients with options.”

Before frozen eggs can become babies, they must go through several steps that many will not survive: about 80 to 90 per cent make it through thawing; fertilization with sperm succeeds in roughly 70 to 80 per cent of the remaining eggs; and the journey of embryo development and potential live birth mean further declines in survival rates, according to the Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada’s clinical practice guidelines.

In Canada, less than four per cent of eggs frozen from 2013 to 2023 were thawed for fertilization, according to CFAS data. Over that decade, the average time women waited to thaw their frozen eggs was 2.7 years.

The IJB analysis found most clinics it analyzed didn’t explain in their initial marketing that many women require more than one cycle to harvest a sufficient number of eggs to be frozen, especially as they get older.

Multiple academic surveys have found the vast majority of people who freeze their eggs don’t regret it, but some researchers question whether these women are being given sufficient information before starting the process.

Nicole Dubinsky, 39, was able to freeze just seven eggs when she went to a Toronto clinic in 2025, and says she was taken aback when told she would need to undergo a second cycle. The music teacher doesn’t regret the procedure, which cost nearly $20,000 for one cycle of egg freezing, but says she wishes she had been warned in advance this was a possibility, especially given her age.

“I thought, you do it once and you do it well,” she says. “I finished and was basically told, ‘You should start again right now.’ I was like, I can’t afford to.”

The most recent CFAS report says women retrieved an average of 13.6 eggs during each retrieval cycle between the years 2013 and 2024. That’s below what Mount Sinai Fertility, based at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto, says is the optimum number of eggs to freeze: 15 to 20 for women 37 or younger, and 25 to 30 for those over 37.

The U.K.’s Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA)’s Code of Practice sets clear rules for how fertility clinics must present information online. Canada’s Assisted Human Reproduction Act offers no comparable guidance.

Doctors who own or work for fertility clinics, though, are regulated by provincial colleges that set general rules for how physicians market their services, either on websites or in social media. Across provincial medical colleges, doctors generally remain responsible for advertising that violates college rules even if a third party, such as a marketing agency, created or posted it on their behalf.

The IJB found multiple possible examples of violations of those regulations, including breaches of rules that require clinics to market themselves accurately, present verifiable and non-misleading information, and refrain from creating false hope.

Language suggesting that egg freezing allows women to “overcome the biological limitations of their reproductive system,” as one clinic advertises, arguably implies a level of control not supported by clinical outcomes.

In Ontario, Alberta and Nova Scotia, the regulatory colleges for physicians and surgeons prohibit the use of online testimonials about doctors to protect public trust, yet such testimonials sometimes appear.

For example, Oasis Fertility in Calgary posted a patient testimonial on its Instagram that said medical director Dr. Imran Pirwany was “incredible,” and added, “You’re in the most caring and capable hands with Dr. P.”

In an interview with the IJB, Pirwany said he “completely agrees” with the investigation’s findings that some of Oasis Fertility’s marketing crosses the line into being misleading. He said he and his team were “actively in the process” of making changes, including the removal of patient testimonials from their website.

Another popular form of testimonial is social media influencers sharing their fertility experiences on platforms such as Instagram and TikTok. The IJB interviewed two influencers who partnered with Ontario fertility clinics to document their egg-freezing journeys. In exchange, they said, they received partial coverage of the procedure.

In a general statement, the Ontario College of Physicians reiterated that “physicians are prohibited from using testimonials,” adding that all advertising concerns are assessed on a case-by-case basis and that the college takes “regulatory action,” when appropriate.

The regulatory colleges in British Columbia, Alberta and Quebec expressed similar sentiments.

Many women told the IJB they are happy they froze their eggs, while others said they had significant concerns about the process.

There are merits to egg freezing, TMU’s Hammond said, but she argues the profit-driven industry targeting healthy women demands closer scrutiny.

“The entirety of egg freezing was generated as a business — it is intended to bring in revenue,” said Hammond. “You have to be inherently skeptical of a medical technology that has that foundation.”

With files from Jacob Marion, Vihaan Bhatnagar and Jenna Olsen

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.

The IJB analyzed fertility clinic websites and social media posts to examine how egg freezing is marketed, focusing on language that appears to overstate certainty or flexibility. Reporters identified well over 100 questionable promotional statements. Here are some examples.

Those that the IJB found to have framed egg freezing as delivering guaranteed outcomes or certainty, suggesting a level of certainty not supported by clinical outcomes, such as:

“guaranteed baby program”

“helps you keep control of your fertility”

“giving you flexibility and control over when to start or expand your family.”

“Our team is here to help you keep control of your reproductive future.”

“Preserving your fertility through either egg freezing or embryo freezing empowers you to plan for parenthood on your own terms.”

“Egg freezing allows you to use your own eggs to achieve a future pregnancy when the timing is right for you.”

“Take Control of Your Reproductive Future”

“At (Fertility Clinic), we are committed to helping you take control of your reproductive future.”

“Freezing your eggs may be seen as an insurance policy…”

“Preserve your fertility for future use …”

“egg freezing has emerged as a revolutionary option for individuals seeking to preserve their fertility and take control of their future family planning.”

Those that seem to imply that egg freezing can pause time, without acknowledging the risks associated with pregnancy at an older maternal age or that many frozen eggs do not result in a live birth. For example:

“Freezing eggs ‘stops’ the biological clock.”

“Egg freezing extends your biological clock – your timeline for deciding if and when you become a parent

“Freezing your eggs ‘pauses’ the biological clock.”

“Benefits of Freezing Your Eggs”: I put my Biological Clock on pause !I use my own eggs later, when I’m ready!”

“Egg freezing extends your biological clock – your timeline for deciding if and when you become a parent – by preserving your fertility potential today.

Those that the IJB judged to frame egg freezing as a lifestyle choice centred on “freedom” or “peace of mind,” positioning it as a solution to broader social pressures while downplaying the financial costs, physical demands and emotional toll, including the need for in vitro fertilization (IVF) and the possibility that treatment might not succeed. For example:

“remove the stress that can rush us into the wrong relationship.”

“Not ready now, but maybe later? Egg freezing can give you peace of mind and more flexibility.”

“It gives you more flexibility and peace of mind while keeping your options open for the future.”

“It gave us peace of mind and space to focus on life now, without pressure.”

“Enjoy flexibility and peace of mind.”

“Some women simply want the peace of mind that comes with knowing their fertility is preserved for the future, no matter what life throws their way.”

“You want to have children eventually, but now is not the time. Perhaps you are focusing on your career, or you want more financial security. Egg freezing allows you to freeze your eggs when they are optimal, and you can use them when you are ready to start a family.”

“Secure your fertility future with confidence and peace of mind!”

NEXT: One woman’s egg-freezing journey