Egg-xploring all reproductive options: the politics of elective egg freezing in Singapore

• Main Authors: Cheng, Isabella Meng Rui, Tay, Nurul Huda
• Other Authors: Ye Junjia
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: Nanyang Technological University 2024
• Subjects: Social Sciences; Elective egg freezing in Singapore; Reproductive autonomy; Reproductive life course; Anticipated infertility; Inequality; Politics of reproduction
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/175716
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Delayed childbearing has fuelled interest in elective egg freezing (EEF) — an assisted reproductive technology that enables women to have children by preserving their eggs. EEF has been legalised in Singapore since 2023. Previous research primarily relied on quantitative methods and lacked depth in providing insight into Singaporean women’s attitudes towards EEF. The portrayal of reproduction as an individual task also imagines it as divorced from social considerations. This paper employs a sociological lens, using qualitative data to elucidate how fertility-related decisions like engaging in EEF are socially embedded within wider forces of culture and politics. Contrary to what is reported in the media, we find interest in opting for EEF to be low. Our findings indicate that two main factors — religion and policy — have critical impacts on interest in and access to EEF respectively. In our analysis, we illuminate how EEF perpetuates inequality by privileging select groups of women.