Women Who Perform Social Egg Freezing as Moral Pioneers: The Case of Ultra-Orthodox Communities in Israel

Journal of Religion and Health https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-024-02062-z ORIGINAL PAPER Women Who Perform Social Egg Freezing as Moral Pioneers: The Case of Ultra‑Orthodox Communities in Israel Maya Maor1 · Miriam Billig1 Accepted: 13 May 2024 © The Author(s) 2024 Abstract Social egg freezing (SEF) is a new reproductive technology that is increasingly used within ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities, stirring tensions between tradition and modernity. Based on in-depth semi-structured interviews, this study examined how ultra-Orthodox singles who employ SEF engage in social negotiations over gender- and body-related norms. Findings show that participants successfully assimilated SEF by establishing facts on the ground and discreetly spreading information while actively avoiding tensions that may threaten religious tradition. SEF did not push participants into modern individualism or dissolve their strong connection to the community. However they did modify social boundaries and articulated social criticism. Keywords Social egg freezing · Ultra-orthodox · Reproductive technology · Social change Introduction Social egg freezing (SEF) is a new reproductive technology gaining popularity in the Western world, due to the rising age of marriage and rates of women’s education and employment, leading to delayed age of childbearing (Martin, 2010; Rimon-Zarfaty & Schicktanz, 2022). When first introduced in the late 1980s, egg freezing (cryopreservation of oocytes) was offered as an experimental treatment to young women undergoing medical treatments that might damage fertility (Johnston et al., 2022; Rimon-Zarfaty et al., 2021). The initial success of the procedure led to the approval of egg freezing for healthy women facing age-related fertility decline due to so-called “social” reasons – social egg freezing (SEF) (Inhorn et al., 2018; * Maya Maor Miriam Billig 1 Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Ariel University, Ariel, Israel 13 Vol.:(0123456789) Journal of Religion and Health Rimon-Zarfaty et al., 2021). Social motivations for egg freezing are primarily relationship factors (e.g., singlehood), followed by economic factors or some other reason for delaying motherhood (Birenbaum-Carmeli et al., 2021; Inhorn et al., 2018; Kanters et al., 2022). Albeit central to regulation and funding, the distinction between “medical” egg freezing (MEF) and SEF is highly debated: the desire to conceive while facing agerelated fertility decline can be considered a medical condition justifying the use of medical means (Rimon-Zarfaty et al., 2021). Simultaneously, a cultural hierarchy that subjugates social motivations to medical ones is reflected in funding, regulation, and public opinion, which favor MEF over SEF (Pennings, 2013; Rimon-Zarfaty et al., 2021). Indeed, critics have raised ethical concerns and argued that SEF is a tool for medicalizing non-medical social problems (Dondorp and De Wert 2009; Petropanagos et al., 2015). Social egg freezing raises questions in relation to the tension between tradition and modernity. Such tension is revealed in cultural gender conflicts over the meaning of virginity and modesty, the age and purpose of marriage, and women’s autonomy and control over their bodies, particularly in religiously observant societies. Ultra-Orthodox communities attract significant public attention as they stand at the crossroads between religious piety and conservatism, and rapid social and cultural change (Hakak, 2009; Hitman, 2022; Teman & Ivry, 2021). The ultraOrthodox comprise 13.3% of Israel’s total population, and with the highest growth rate in developed countries (4%), they are expected to comprise 16% by 2030 (Malach & Cahaner, 2022). Their communities are characterized by high fertility rates, young average age at marriage (22 for women), young age at birth of first child (23), and a large number of children per family (6.1) (Malach & Cahaner, 2022; Regev, 2017). The ultra-Orthodox community in Israel is comprised of three religious’ mainstreams: Hassidic (35.6%), Sephardic (35.3%), and Lithuanian (29.1%) (Regev, 2017). The three streams diverge in their dress codes, importance they attribute to religious studies, types of employment and openness to external influences (Regev, 2017). The ultra-Orthodox tend to segregate geographically and culturally and as a whole reject external influences. Furthermore, ultra-Orthodox communities’ attitudes toward technology, especially digital media, are complex and tend to be negative, especially in regard to the inclusion of children and young people (Rosenberg et al., 2023). Most ultra-Orthodox parents are heavily involved in partner selection and use the services of local professional matchmakers (Yacovson et al., 2020). Unmarried women of advanced age are considered “problematic to marriage” and may lead to a marriage queue as siblings are expected to marry in the order of their birth. These factors attract severe social pressures to marry from family, peers, and the community. Prolonged singlehood among religious ultra-Orthodox women is connected to increased loneliness, social disconnection, and sexual deprivation (Engelberg, 2016; Yacovson et al., 2020). Notwithstanding these conservative characteristics, ultra-Orthodox society is exposed to external influences that are expressed in rising education and employment rates among women, which in turn, can also postpone the age of marriage (Malach & Cahaner, 2022). These trends are creating greater disposable income, 13 Journal of Religion and Health leisure culture, and the emergence of modern discourse among the growing middle class in ultra-Orthodox society (Malach & Cahaner, 2022). Indeed, a survey from 2017 reveals a significant rise in the age of marriage: while 61% of ultra-Orthodox men aged 25 were married in 2005, only 44% were married in 2016. Similarly, while 80% of ultra-Orthodox women aged 20–29 were married a decade ago, today only 66% of women of these ages are married (Malach et al., 2017). Given the clash between increasing rates of late-singlehood and the socio-religious expectation to have large families, Jewish religious communities and rabbinical leaders have defined growing rates of singlehood as a severe social problem (Engelberg, 2016; Yacovson et al., 2020). There is scattered and preliminary evidence that ultra-Orthodox communities may coopt/embrace SEF as a technological solution to these tensions (Rimon‐ Zarfaty & Schicktanz, 2022; Inhurn et al., 2018). Nevertheless, the ability of ultraOrthodox women to exert agency in relation to reproduction has been examined only among married women undergoing multiple pregnancies, fertility treatments or prenatal diagnostics (e.g., Teman & Ivry, 2021; Teman et al., 2011; Teman et al., 2016). However, the ability of ultra-Orthodox singles to exert reproductive agency, without explicitly violating social norms, remains understudied. Social egg freezing can provide a technological solution for la (...truncated)