Increasing amounts of women are choosing to become single mothers in Flanders, according to UZ Gent, UZ Brussels, ZNA Middelheim and UZ Leuven. There are one-third more applications compared to the pandemic, and some fertility clinics have even doubled their numbers compared to five years ago, reports De Morgen.
As many as 172 women applied for fertility treatment in UZ Gent last year. "Compared to the 90 applications in 2017, this is a doubling and compared to 2019 it is a fifth more," said Dominic Stoop, head of the fertility centre at UZ Gent. In the first half of 2022, there have already been almost 100 applications in Ghent.
"That is already more than the same period last year," Stoop told De Morgen.
It is a trend that is also clear for the fertility clinics at ZNA Middelheim and UZ Leuven. ZNA Middelheim received 24 applications to become single mothers and undergo fertility treatment, almost as many as the total of 26 applications in 2021 and double the amount before the pandemic.
"Women are clearly less inclined to let their desire for a child depend on whether or not they have a partner", said head of the medical department Ingrid Inion.
Screening process
UZ Brussels has seen an average of about 650 to 800 applications for several years in a row. In 2020, there were 634 requests, a figure which rose to 782 in 2021. But only a third actually start the process. Last year, there were 463 treatments.
"There are two reasons why so many drop out," said fertility professor Herman Tournaye. "There is an extensive psychological extensive psychological screening to check whether someone can carry the care for a child alone."
"For example, we sometimes see women who are socially isolated or even still live with their parents. Or women who no longer have parents and hardly have any friends, so that they have a small social safety net for the child in case something happens to them. If there is no social safety net, you simply do not pass the screening," said Tournaye.
Double donation, twice the price
Tournaye is struck by the fact that since 2019, there has been a doubling of the number of women who want a double donation of both an egg cell and a sperm cell. The situation is similar in Antwerp.
"In previous years, it was mostly women in their mid to late 30s, but now we are increasingly seeing women over 40," said Tournaye. "Women often wait until they are 42. And that worries me. These women drag it out so long that they hardly have a chance with their egg supply. There is a refund scheme up to 43 years of age, so some women come knocking at the last minute."
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Not only is there a shortage of sperm donors in Belgium, but it is not easy to find egg donors either. "They either look for someone themselves, Or we look for an anonymous donor, but that's not easy and a lot more expensive," said Tournaye.
A double donation is not cheap and costs a few thousand euros. "Then of course you have the other group, those in their thirties, who have also been asking us more often in recent years to freeze their eggs. It costs over 2,000 euros, but it is much smarter than waiting until you are over 40," advised the doctor.
