should childless couples depend on surrogate mothers

Surrogacy not an answer but another problem

TUESDAY'S letter by Mr Siu Yow Wee, 'Make surrogate motherhood legal', appears to address certain needs. However, I cannot help but feel they are largely self-centred and bound to bring more pain than gain.
There is more to surrogacy than meets the eye. Legalising it will do society more harm than good. It will mean that anyone, male or female, who wants to have a child can do so simply by paying a surrogate mother. What about the implications for marriage and family, the foundations of society?

Why does society even have to consider fulfilling the needs of career women 'who do not want to give birth'? If pregnancy is a bother, and giving birth a pain, then motherhood is multiples of that. So, what is the logic in providing for one with a selfish mentality, one who is able to give birth but does not want to?

It is also a dangerous thought to allow foreign maids 'employed solely for this purpose, to act as surrogate mothers'. This is simply wrong. Besides, it will result in more instances of maid abuse. Who will be a witness when a maid is brought here unsuspectingly, taken to the hospital for a 'check-up', and then subsequently found to be pregnant? There is also the danger that after all the inconvenience, the maid suffers a miscarriage, develops a serious illness or carries a baby that is not properly developed. One can only imagine what will happen to these maids and what anguish they will have to endure.

Singaporeans have worked hard to bring the country to where it is today. Our people would not wish to undo that by becoming a nation providing 'surrogate motherhood services'. Such a service does not require even O levels, judging by the rise in teenage pregnancies. Are we then not making a mockery of ourselves?

Finally, and most important of all, children are priceless. They should remain so. Imagine if a child discovers he was 'bought' for less than another. Save for adoption, a child brought into the world for a fee becomes a commodity, like a pet. Have we not witnessed enough the plight of unwanted pets?

Some adopted children suffer because they do not know who their parents are. Would it not be harder for a child who has not only a birth mother but another who contributed the egg? Why subject a child to an identity crisis and possibly lifelong counselling?

Surrogacy is not an answer to a problem. It is another problem. Hence, I urge the Ministry of Health to keep its focus on the population's health instead of contributing, by legalising surrogacy, to more cases of people in need of mental and emotional care. Besides diverting resources away from more pressing and legitimate issues, surrogacy may lead to a generation of 'lost' children in need of institutions like the 'SPCA' - the Surrogate People's Care Agency.

Grace Chua (Mdm)