Cold storage: London clinic offers free egg freezing

As people increasingly reconsider the assets they were born with, seeing them as opportunities with which to make money, we are witnessing a growing phenomenon: body economics. A new initiative by the Bridge Centre, a fertility clinic in Central London, offers women who wish to delay motherhood the chance to freeze their eggs for free. The process typically costs up to £5k. To qualify for freezing at no cost, however, participating women will have to give away half their eggs to infertile couples.

Women are now becoming mothers later in life – married women are now having their first child six years later than they did in the 1970s, according to the UK Office for National Statistics – and this new ‘freeze and share’ programme is set to further fuel the trend.

Having natural physical attributes or capabilities that are sought after by others evidently has economic benefits; with advances in medical technology, the trend is set to grow further. If someone wants a new ear in your skin tone, why not grow one on your back and sell it to him or her? (For more on this, see Viewpoint 22: Our Synthetic Future.)