The pandemic put Keshia Knight Pullman’s family planning on hold.
In the new Discovery+ documentary “Eggs Over Easy: Black Women & Fertility”, the former “Cosby Show” star shared her experience having her plan to freeze her eggs thwarted by COVID-19 shutdowns.
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“I began the process of freezing my eggs,” the 42-year-old tells People, “and then literally the day that I was supposed to start my meds is when, as a result of the pandemic, they shut down all elective medical procedures. So, I was unable to continue.”
“I think a lot of people didn’t realize that, with the world shutting down in the pandemic, it didn’t just affect your ability to go to the mall, or to do sporting events the way you want to, but it definitely affected a lot of people from a medical standpoint,” she adds. “People were unable to get mammograms and cancer surgery [which] were very much needed.”
Pulliam also says, “It’s crazy that preserving your right and your ability to have a baby is considered elective. It shouldn’t,” she says. “It should be an option that’s given to all women.”
She also talks about the lack of accessibility for most people when it comes to freezing their eggs.
“[For] the average person, by the time you can actually afford it, it may be too late, because it is very, very expensive,” Pulliam explains. “And the procedure is gruelling; the amount of needles, and visits, and ultrasounds and all the different things that are required.”
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“It’s definitely something that we have to start the conversations [about] before. We have to – just how to talk about women and their careers, and what do they want to do in their lives – this is an integral part of your life’s planning that we need to make sure that you’re creating the plan for before you hit your late 30s,” she says.
In the meantime, though, Pulliam says she might actually try having a baby without freezing her eggs.
“A couple of years ago, it was ‘Okay, we want a baby.’ But not now,” she says. “Now we’re open to getting pregnant. So, you know, we’ll see what happens.”
