News

I read with great interest the article, “ ” (May 21), which said an overwhelming percentage of women never use the eggs they freeze. It is thus anticipated that in the coming years, Singaporean women will need to make increasingly complex decisions on what to do with their unused frozen eggs. Available options include discarding their unused frozen eggs, donating them for treatment of other women or for research and teaching, and even exporting them to a foreign fertility clinic to achieve single motherhood. Currently, counselling is mandated only if a woman decides to donate her frozen eggs for another woman’s in-vitro fertilisation treatment. The other options of what to do with unused frozen eggs also require complex decision-making, and counselling should also be mandated to avoid possible regret. Deciding to discard unused frozen eggs or donating them for research are not simple choices and would require careful thinking. Even if the women already have children, counselling is necessary to make sure they do not want any more children. This is particularly significant if women are near or past the age of menopause. In making such choices, women should be counselled together with their husband if they are married. There should be mutual agreement and a joint decision. For women thinking of pursuing single motherhood by exporting their frozen eggs to a foreign fertility clinic for sperm donor in-vitro fertilisation, counselling is needed to help them consider the implications of their choice. For example, besides considering whether they can meet the emotional, physical and financial challenges of single motherhood, there is also the psychological well-being of the child to consider, as he would be deprived of a father in his life. A