FREEZING HOPE

Most women who freeze their eggs in S'pore are single professionals in their 30s and do so as an 'insurance policy'

- Theresa Tan

Ms Amanda Lin, a 37-year-old single, has 21 eggs banked up as an "insurance" plan of sorts to have children in the future.

The vice-president of forex and derivative sales at a bank said: "I don't want to regret it if I get married at a later age and cannot conceive.

"It's good if I can find someone now, but as women get more independent, the role of a husband has also changed. You don't want to rush into marriage for the sake of having a kid. You want somebody who can be a lifelong partner."

In August 2023, she paid about $10,000 for a cycle of elective egg freezing at Virtus Fertility Centre Singapore and had 21 eggs frozen.

Ms Lin said the process was "pretty smooth sailing" for her, despite daily hormonal injections for eight or nine days to stimulate the production of more eggs.

She is among the about 200 women who have undergone elective egg freezing, which is performed for non-medical reasons, since it was allowed in Singapore in June 2023, Minister in the Prime Minister's Office Indranee Rajah said on Feb 28.

Before this landmark move, women could freeze their eggs only for medical reasons, such as when they have to undergo chemotherapy, which could adversely affect their fertility.

A woman is born with a finite number of eggs, with the number and quality of eggs declining as she ages. As such, the chances of a woman getting pregnant decreases as she ages, doctors say.

Egg freezing preserves fertility as the age of the eggs remains unchanged from the moment they are frozen.