An unmarried Chinese woman said she had lost a final court appeal for the right to freeze her eggs, a procedure only available in China to married women.
The legal action taken by Xu Zaozao, 36, was closely watched in the country where women’s rights have become an increasingly prominent issue and the falling birthrate is of growing concern.Xu has said she wanted to freeze her eggs to give herself the chance to have a child alone if she is not able to find a partner.
“The appeal is rejected and the original judgment is confirmed,” she said on Wednesday in a live video broadcast on Chinese social media platform WeChat.
“This result was expected. The most important thing is that, after so many years, we’ve finally reached an end, a result of sorts, an answer,” she added, pledging “not to give up” on the cause.
In 2018, Xu, then 30, had wanted to have her eggs frozen but a Beijing hospital refused, saying the procedure was only available to women who could not become pregnant naturally.
She filed a lawsuit but a Beijing court dismissed her case in 2022, ruling that the hospital’s refusal to freeze Xu’s eggs was not illegal and did “not constitute an infringement of (her) rights”. She appealed the following year.
Despite the outcome, Xu said she was glad to have sparked a public debate.
“I think (this cause) is going in the right direction. Public opinion has changed quite a bit in recent years”, with legislation proposed “that is increasingly favourable to single women”, she said.
In 2022, China recorded its first population decline in six decades, and the government is now encouraging citizens to have babies. But economic development has pushed more Chinese women into the job market, with many choosing to marry later. — AFP
