Facebook and Apple now offer a new employee perk: paying female employees to freeze their eggs. Facebook began covering the cost of freezing eggs, and Apple plans to launch the perk in January. The Universe asked students: Is it ethical for a woman to freeze her eggs to work longer?
“I think that it is a great opportunity for those employees. With studying how eggs work and such, it is a really good idea to freeze them early because there is so much risk with those eggs later on in life. The thing is, there are people who may want that opportunity, but they don’t have the money to do so. So I think it’s great for Apple and Facebook to pay for those employees, to give them that opportunity to have children later in life if they want to.” — Tyler Quirante, PD biology, Katy, Texas
“I think that it is definitely a personal choice, but procreation isn’t something you should try to manipulate. So while the intentions are good, I don’t think they going about it the right way.” — Chase Bleyl, Information systems, Richmond, Virginia
“I think there are a lot of things in the world today that are ethical, but I think the thing that is great is that we have the decision of whether or not we should do it. And I think the more we make laws to say that we can’t do certain things, the less we expect people to make those decisions from within. So while I don’t think that that is necessarily a good thing for companies to offer, I think it’s important for people to make that decision on their own. And if they want to continue to work, I think it’s better for them to have kids later than not have kids at all.” — Jake Dawson, Exercise science, Omaha, Nebraska
“Technology is incredible, and the way we understand the human body is incredible. So it’s amazing that we can even do that, but whether or not it should be done is probably a moral matter. And I don’t know if there is a statement on the Church either way. So I would look toward the Church to give some guidance, but it’s pretty cool that they can do that.” — Brady Hunt, Biophysics, Sandy
“I don’t think it’s natural, and I don’t think that companies should have that much impact on the private lives of their employees.” — Ashley Stokes, Communications, Tremonton
“The prophets have said that we, as women, fathers and mothers, need to have kids when the Lord say it’s right for you. And they’ve told us not to put off having a family for selfish desires. And to me, that is extremely selfish to put that off just to get paid more.” — Ashley Weight, Visual arts, Highland
