Why More Women Are Traveling Abroad for Egg Freezing and IVF

My path to seeking reproductive healthcare outside the US began in the same way it would have at home: It started with life not going according to my neatly organized plan.

In summer 2025, I found myself freshly divorced and looking out over the proverbial fertility cliff of turning 35. I suddenly felt the need to act fast. I was unsure about having children, but I wanted to keep that door open for the future.

As a self-employed writer with health insurance that leaves much to be desired, I knew going abroad for a more affordable option was my only choice—at least the only financially responsible one. That’s how I found myself in the office of Doctor Daniela Paz Cervantes, an OBGYN in Oaxaca, Mexico, who oversaw my care for two rounds of egg freezing just a few months later.

I’m not unique in my search for medical care abroad. Although exact numbers are difficult to track, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that “millions of US residents travel internationally for medical care each year,” listing reproductive tourism as one of the main categories of services that they seek. While I went to Mexico for my treatments, Spain, Greece, Cyprus, and Barbados are also particularly popular for fertility tourism.

Dr. Mario Vega Croker, Medical Director of Panama Fertility located in Panama City, Panama, has noticed more Americans knocking on his door. Panama Fertility opened nearly 40 years ago as a small clinic catering to local families; fast forward to today, and it’s grown into one of the most prolific clinics in Central America, with half of their patients hailing from the US and Caribbean.

“American patients are one of our fastest-growing groups, especially in gestational surrogacy, [receiving] egg donations, and IVF,” says Dr. Vega Croker. “Many come to us after putting their dreams on hold because treatment at home felt out of reach […] Finding the same expertise and quality of care at about half the cost often gives them the chance to finally begin, or to try again.”

According to FertilityIQ, a data-based fertility education platform, the average egg freezing cycle costs $16,000 in the US. Meanwhile, I spent about $7,000 for one round, which is inclusive of what I paid for flights, food, accommodations, and activities for the three weeks I was in Mexico for my treatment. And I appreciated the quality of my care: My entire cycle was incredibly thorough and personalized, even before I touched down in Oaxaca. It was a no-brainer.

Alisa Purdie, a California-based online business coach, faced a similar set of choices when she got divorced at 31 with the added challenge of managing premature menopause, which can cause fertility issues—though her journey, from ideation to undergoing treatment, took more than a decade to come to fruition.

“After my divorce, my plan was to do embryo adoption because I was in menopause, so I didn’t have any of my own eggs,” Purdie says, referring to the option to acquire an embryo from another couple and carry it herself. “I was just sort of collecting information about all the different options as a single woman and what that [path to motherhood] might look like.”

Then she learned of a friend who had frozen her eggs in Greece, and it sparked a lightbulb. After looking into options in Turkey, Greece, and the UK, Purdie settled on the Barbados Fertility Centre not only because of the 50% cost savings compared to the US, but also because of the warmth and compassion of the staff she met during a visit and exploratory phone calls.

“The information and the data, of course, is really important,” Purdie says in reference to the clinic's 72% success rate with donor egg IVF treatments. “But it's a pregnancy. You're trying to bring a baby into the world. There also has to be kindness, patience, and positivity.”

Life took a few more turns for Purdie, and she didn't begin her fertility treatment for 15 more years, though she knew the clinic would be her path forward. By the time she reached Barbados at age 46, she had married her best friend of 12 years and arrived with a new plan: fertilize a donor egg with her husband, instead of adopting an embryo as she'd initially intended.

With eight donor eggs shipped from their home state of California, Purdie and her partner achieved two healthy female embryos and were able to transfer one to Purdie’s uterus, allowing her to carry the pregnancy. That first attempt was successful, and Purdie’s daughter turns one this month.

“To become a mother at 47 has been the biggest blessing of my life,” she says. She plans to transfer her second embryo next year at age 49.

Inspired by her experience, Purdie now shares her story on social media and runs a community called IVF Sisterhood in hopes of encouraging other women with fertility issues, especially those going through IVF past the age of 45. Though the community isn't exclusively for those looking beyond the US for treatment, there are plenty who are.

“For so long, infertility has carried so much shame and trauma that we just sort of shrink,” Purdie says. “I feel so much joy every single day [since becoming a mother], and I really want that for any woman or family who wants that for themselves.”

Cost and quality of care are often cited as the top motivations for medical tourists. For Felicia Garay-Stanton, who works in public relations and fashion marketing in New York, the current political climate in the US, including the rollback of women’s reproductive rights, also played a role in her decision to travel to freeze her eggs at the IVF-Life Madrid clinic.

She ultimately conceived her son naturally, four years after her egg freezing in Spain, but Garay-Stanton says that she feels at ease knowing her eggs are stored in a safe place should she need them in the future.

“I just like the fact that in Spain they have [legal] protections for all reproductive rights, especially if you're a single female, or if you’re LGBT,” Garay-Stanton says.

While Spain allows single women and same-sex couples to seek IVF treatments with a sperm or egg donor, other countries, like the Czech Republic, only offer these services to heterosexual couples, which is important to understand while researching options. The minimum age for an embryo transfer is typically 18 years old—the maximum, however, varies more widely, with countries like Greece setting the limit at 54; Barbados doesn’t allow transfers past 49. Some countries, including Spain, don’t allow you to choose your sperm donor, if that's part of your plan; and others—like Germany, Denmark, and the Netherlands—only allow pre-transfer genetic testing of embryos when there’s a high risk of severe disease. Understanding a country’s legal and even social parameters for reproductive care is key when choosing where to go.

In South Korea, for example, it’s not strictly illegal for single women to undergo IVF treatments, but in practice it’s almost impossible to access, as clinics typically require proof that patients are in a heterosexual marriage before every IVF cycle.

It’s a fact that Hellynn Jung and her husband know firsthand. After undergoing a lengthy IVF journey in Seoul, Jung, who was born in South Korea but grew up in the US, now openly shares her experience on social media and offers consultations to women seeking reproductive care, especially overseas.

Despite the restrictions, Jung says Korea is an attractive option for straight couples who want to engage with a medical system that’s fast and efficient.

“[The process] is very straightforward. No nonsense, and they're really good too,” she says, noting Korea's technological advancements in the medical field. “So that's the reason why I went back.”

The cost savings in Korea may not be as dramatic for Americans as they are in other countries—the average IVF cycle in Seoul costs between $5,000 and $10,000—but according to Jung, people are also drawn to Korea for the possibility of doing beauty treatments and other medical work while there. “Korea is a hub for anything medical,” she says.

No matter where someone chooses to get reproductive care, Jung recommends making the process as lighthearted as possible. After being diagnosed with a diminished ovarian reserve, Jung went through 15 egg retrievals and 5 embryo transfers before eventually giving birth at 43. She knows from experience that staying calm is no easy feat, but she is an avid believer that the less stress you have, the better your chances of success.

“The heavier [this process feels], the more [of a] control freak that you become because you're scared, [and then] the more stress you're going to have, and that's not going to be good for your body,” she says. “If you're traveling for IVF, make it a relaxing, fun trip… Make it about an adventure for yourself, where you're exploring different things.” For Jung, that looked like attending Seoul Fashion Week and indulging in the city’s fine dining scene, while for some of her coaching clients, that meant professional color consultations, beauty treatments, and even weekend trips to Japan.

When Garay-Stanton reflects on her experience, she echoes a similar sentiment. Since the egg retrieval process, which is also the first phase of IVF, requires 10 to 14 days of daily, at-home hormone injections and doctor visits every few days, there is still plenty of time to explore your destination.

“I was going to the appointments, I was doing my shots, but during the day, I could just walk around the city,” she says. “We took a weekend trip to the Canary Islands, and I just brought all of my medication with me. So my mind was off of it, which I think was positive.”

What all these women have in common, myself included, is that we wish we had started our journeys sooner. Whether that means early hormone testing—as Jung and Purdie suggest—or simply knowing that going abroad is an option.

“The US has this mentality that we're so much better than everywhere else, and I think this process has really shown me that there could be even better options [outside the country],” Garay-Stanton says.

For those who may worry about the judgment of others when making this delicate decision, Purdie’s advice is simple: “Be honest with the path that you want in life and don't let anybody take it away from you. Because I almost did.”