Women nearing the decline of their best baby-making years have long-undertaken the practice of having their eggs frozen, a procedure that can cost of well over $10,000. Now companies like Facebook and Apple are offering to pay for female employees to receive this treatment. But, asks some members of the mainstream media, is it sending the right message?

Wired Magazine poses, "Do we really want to support a society that requires us to work so hard that we don’t have time to raise children?" In other words, are Apple and Facebook paying their employees to put off starting a family?

Alternately, egg-freezing gives women employees the highly-personal option of focusing on their rapidly growing careers without worrying that their baby-maker is getting all dusty.

The New York Times reports, "Some doctors say egg freezing could be as influential as the birth control pill in freeing women from the confines of biology. Childbirth coincides with prime career-building years, and balancing both is a perpetual challenge."

Most of the news around this issue seems to be focused on a woman's challenging choice between her awesome career and her awesome ability to have healthy babies naturally. Of the San Francisco women we know who've chosen to freeze their eggs, their reasoning is usually more complicated. They haven't yet found the right partner, or they're not quite sure if children lie in their future. These women would simply like to hold on to the option of having a baby a little while longer, regardless of their work hours or relationship status.

Do you think Apple and Facebook are funding egg-freezing in the hopes that they'll get more work out of their employees? Or is this company perk a part of the emerging medical technology that will become more and more commonplace?