Women in the Netherlands who wish to delay having children for non-medical reasons should be able to have their oocytes frozen if they want to, according to recommendations from two professional bodies in response to a government request for guidance.

The Dutch Association for Obstetrics and Gynaecology and the Association for Clinical Embryology make the recommendation in a new report on the issue, Vitrificatie van Eicellen [Vitrification of Oocytes] (www.nvog.nl). It follows plans last year by Amsterdam’s Academic Medical Centre to begin freezing oocytes on non-medical grounds, such as because women are single or cannot take a career break, which sparked questions in parliament.

The report recommends “conditional” permission for the procedure after finding that arguments for refusing the freezing of oocytes on non-medical grounds were unconvincing. It suggests that the age limit for …