If I want to have kids
I have to do it by the time that I turn 35.
Ah, yes, 35.
The age when the media tells us
a woman's fertility rate supposedly plummets.
You got to get pretty serious about having kids before 35.
You're getting older,
and you know that clock is ticking.
By the time we're 35,
fertility has decreased by 50%
(Emily) Gah! Whew.
See? I got to get baking now before this oven breaks down.
I mean, they have done studies.
Sure, but where those studies
got their data from is real weird.
Was is it from a large,
well-conducted sample of modern women?
Nope. It came from rural French census records
from the 1600s.
(women coughing)
Ohh... ohh...
(speaking French)
Wait, seriously? I have been getting fertility advice
from a bunch of 400-year-old French farmers?
(woman) Unfortunately, yes.
Oh! Emily, this is Jean Twenge,
the author of "The Impatient Woman's Guide to Getting Pregnant"
and the researcher who discovered the truth about this data.
You know, when I wanted to have kids in my late 30s,
I was as freaked out about these studies as anyone.
But I'm researcher, so I looked into it.
And I found out that nobody really noticed that these claims
were based on such old data.
And that's a problem,
because that means they come from a time
before fertility treatment, antibiotics, or modern medicine.
Yeah, there could've been a lot of reasons these women
weren't getting pregnant after 35.
Maybe their husbands had gone to war.
Maybe they had diseases.
Or, I don't know,
maybe they just stopped having sex.
Um....
They truth is, in modern data,
average woman age 27 who's healthy
has an 86% chance of getting pregnant within a year.
And that same woman at age 37,
her chances are to 82%.
That's like barely a difference.
You know, if you don't have fertility problems already,
you can have a baby later than you think.
Age doesn't really affect fertility that much
until you're in your 40s.
Take it from me, I had three kids--
one at 35, another at 38, and then at 40.
Whew, congratulations.
Honestly, it was no sweat.
Okay, farmers, let's get you
back to the past where you belong.
Thanks, Jean.
Yeah, au revoir, everyone, au revoir.
Yeah, merci very much.
But I read that by the age of 40,
your chances of birth defects double.
(woman screams)
You know, the hen house may be workin',
but the eggs are goin' sour.
Not quite.
Miscarriages do become more common,
but your chances of having a baby with a birth defect
only "double" from .5%... to 1%.
That's like nothing.
Yeah, exactly.
But if they say it doubles, it sounds way scarier
and sells more magazines.
All this fear-mongering has caused a generation of women
to panic that they're going infertile in their 30s.
And if you've seen this show before,
you know what happens when people get scared--
corporate America swoops in to take advantage.
♪♪
(wind whipping)
Egg freezing industry, "ice" to meet you.
Egg freezing began as a way for women
to save their eggs before undergoing chemotherapy.
But today, it's grown into vanity industry
that preys on fertility fear.
Your eggs are rotting, fast.
So we're gonna freeze some now and thaw them out later
when you're ready to have a baby.
What she failed to mention
is that each of those eggs only has a 2% to 12% chance
of resulting in a baby,
and the whole shebang is gonna cost you
upwards of $20,000.
20 grand? Yeah.
And all that money is usually wasted.
The vast majority of women who freeze their eggs
never actually use them because, again,
you can get pregnant in life later than you think.
You scammer.
Oh, oh, "snow."
(wind whipping)
That was awesome!
Truth is, Emily,
if you're in good health through your early 40s,
you don't really need to stress that much about fertility.
I've been planning my whole life around the idea
that we have to have a baby soon.
Well, you don't.
If you're not ready to have a kid now,
that's okay... you've got time.
Man, I feel so much better.
You know what? Why rush this?
We should just wait to get...
pregnant?
We're gonna be parents!