A Chinese court rejected the request of an unmarried lady to have her eggs frozen.
After the Beijing Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital declined to carry out the operation, which is exclusively available to married women with fertility issues, Teresa Xu filed a lawsuit in 2019.
The hospital, however, was not deemed to have breached her rights by the court.
Ms. Xu promised to fight the decision and called it a “setback” for women’s reproductive rights.
The hospital claimed that it “understood” the complaint but had to abide with the law, according to the ruling.
According to the New York Times, when Ms. Xu first brought the case, hospital spokesperson Chao Wei said that staff members had complied with laws on assisted reproductive technologies.
Ms. Xu, who was 30 at the time, tried to freeze her eggs in 2018 so she could concentrate on her freelance editing work.
She claimed, however, that the hospital staff had actually urged her to become pregnant at the time.
Later, she was informed that the procedure was only offered to women who were unable to conceive naturally, according to the AFP news agency. The hospital also mentioned the risks associated with older women getting pregnant as well as the difficulties single mothers confront.
Age-related egg deterioration in women makes pregnancy more challenging. In China, there is a strong demand for egg freezing, and many women who can afford it go abroad to get the operation.
Ms. Xu stated that she had pondered travelling abroad, but the cost was prohibitive.
In China, where there are strong restrictions on reproductive rights and birth control, her situation has received a lot of attention.
Ms. Xu said that she would “not let it finish like this” in a video that was uploaded to the social media platform WeChat.
We can’t claim that this is a setback for single women’s reproductive rights, she said, but it might be a little one.
In 2019, Ms. Xu claimed that she had felt pressure from society to have a kid rather than prioritise her work.
“I came here for a professional service, but instead I got someone who was encouraging me to put aside my work and to have a child first,” she remarked in reference to her hospital appointments. In our society and culture, I have already experienced a lot of this pressure.
