(top) Dr P C Wong, senior consultant at the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at NUH, speculates that the government is holding back from legalising surrogacy due to ethical issues.
With its advanced medical technology and low cost, childless Singaporeans are flocking to India for surrogacy. This raises a pertinent question — if Singapore has the know-how and the facilities to match, why is surrogacy not allowed?
Born with a small uterus, it is dangerous for Ann (not her real name) to get pregnant.
Together with her husband Ron, this couple of Indian descent had started a new life in Singapore as permanent residents five years ago, until a local doctor revealed this painful truth — her uterus cannot stretch enough to hold a growing foetus, which means there is a high chance of miscarriage.
“When we knew about this, we were quite devastated and just didn’t know what to do,” said 31-year-old Ann.
Since then, Ann has tried many methods to get a child. But expensive and unsuccessful In-Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) attempts, and long waiting lists for adoption have left the IT engineer “worried”.
“My husband loves children. If I knew about my condition before marriage, I wouldn’t have married him just for this reason,” Ann said.
According to her doctors, Ann’s eggs are healthy and surrogacy is her only chance to have a baby.
But surrogacy is illegal in Singapore, and that left Ann desperate. She said: “We just didn’t want to live without a child.”
Then she found out through the Internet about surrogacy in her country of birth — India. The rent-a-womb industry has attracted childless couples from all over the world with its low-cost and high-tech treatment.
Ann flew back to her hometown in Gujarat three years ago and after two unsuccessful IVF cycles, her surrogate is pregnant with a child from her third IVF try.
Like Ann, a steady stream of Singaporeans has been seeking surrogacy in India.
Surrogacy refers to the process in which a woman gets artificially impregnated, and after delivery the baby is returned to the commissioning parents. In India, the surrogate mother gets paid for her gestational services.
A check with a number of clinics in India reveals that over the past three to four years, more Singaporeans have been inquiring about renting a womb.
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