HEALTH Minister Khaw Boon Wan last week asked an interesting question: Should we allow surrogate pregnancy?

When a couple get married, the primary objective for most, other than companionship, is to start a family.

Disappointment is natural should the woman be unable to carry a child.

With more women waiting longer to get married, infertility will be a common problem.

In extreme cases, a man might abandon his infertile wife to look for a woman who is able to carry his child.

In such situations, the husband cannot be blamed.

Surrogate pregnancy is essentially the use of a woman's womb to carry a child which is not biologically hers.

If surrogacy is legalised, it would give infertile couples a chance to have children.

Singapore could consider allowing surrogacy if the following conditions are met:

The surrogate mother and her husband must agree to help the natural parents carry their child to term, and to freely and readily hand over the child to his/her natural parents when the baby is born.

Only a fertilised egg, which is the result of the insemination of the natural mother's egg with the natural father's sperm, should be implanted in the surrogate mother's womb.

The natural father must agree to bear all medical, hospitalisation, laboratory, pharmaceutical and therapy expenses incurred as a result of the surrogate mother's pregnancy, which are not covered by her insurance policies.

The costs should also include extraordinary medical expenses for the treatment of emotional, mental or other problems related to the surrogate pregnancy.

The natural mother must be unable to carry her own child, due to medical or other reasons.

The surrogate mother and her husband should be aware of, understand and agree to assume all risks, including death, which are incidental to conception, pregnancy, childbirth, and which include, but are not limited to, complications subsequent to such childbirth.

An ethics committee should be formed to help ensure that couples who enter into surrogacy agreements have understood and met the conditions, and approve of the arrangement.

With the declining birth rate, surrogate pregnancy will provide a solution for infertile couples seeking to have children, and also help beef up our population.

This option should be seriously considered.

Mr Goh Kian Huat

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