A Chinese woman who was denied permission to freeze her eggs because she was unmarried had her case dismissed by a Beijing court.
Xu Zaozao took legal action in 2019 after a Beijing hospital refused to freeze her eggs, a procedure only available in China to married couples suffering from infertility.
Her case has been widely followed in China, where women’s rights have become an increasingly important issue and where the birth rate has declined significantly in recent years.
But a Beijing court ruled that the hospital’s refusal to freeze Xu’s eggs was not illegal and “did not constitute a violation of (her) rights,” according to a ruling released on Friday.
According to the ruling, the hospital said it “understood” Xu’s complaint but must apply the law.
“I will not let it end like this,” Xu said in a video posted to social network WeChat, promising to appeal.
“We cannot say that this is a blow to the reproductive rights of single women,” she added. “But it could be a small temporary setback.”
Egg freezing consists in removing the eggs before storing them in liquid nitrogen for use in a subsequent pregnancy.
Women all over the world are choosing to freeze their eggs to give them a better chance of having children later in life. However, obstacles remain as the procedure is often only open to married women.
Xu, then 30, was told by the hospital in 2018 that the procedure was only available to women who could not conceive naturally, not healthy patients.
In addition to the risks associated with egg retrieval, the hospital also noted that later pregnancies are more risky for both mother and child, citing the difficulties single mothers face.
Economic developments have pushed more Chinese women into the labor market in recent decades, leading many to choose to marry later in life.
Many are under great pressure from their parents to get married and have a child after the age of 30.
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