Social freezing refers to the process of freezing one or more unfertilized eggs to save them for future use. The eggs are thawed and fertilized in the laboratory to make embryos that can be transferred to a woman’s uterus in the future. Recent evidence indicates that more women are choosing to postpone childbearing primarily due to their increasing involvement in the labor market at the expense of having children. Egg freezing is one option to preserve reproductive capacity while achieving other goals, but it’s still controversial due to cultural issues and limited knowledge.

There is limited knowledge among people about fertility preservation, particularly social freezing, and they might have a natural disposition to reject it influenced by cultural and religious norms.

Aim: To determine the knowledge and attitudes toward social freezing among the Lebanese female population. 

Female students and workers between the ages of 25 and 37 years at the American University of Beirut, the American University of Beirut Medical Center, and BLOM bank were included. They were approached through online surveys followed by distribution of hard copies to improve low response rate.

A list of emails of females between the ages of 25 and 37 was obtained from the IRB.

Emails were uploaded on Lime Survey and sent to be completed anonymously.