A court in China has ruled against an unmarried woman who sued for the right to freeze her eggs.
Teresa Xu had applied to freeze her eggs at a gynecology hospital in Beijing in 2018 but was refused the procedure.
She had decided to freeze her eggs when she was 30 years old so that she could focus on her career as a freelance editor but still preserve the opportunity to have babies in the future, according to BBC.
After the initial examination, the hospital told her it was not possible to proceed without a marriage certificate, as reported by the Guardian.
Xu said the doctor also encouraged her to have babies while she is still young, telling her that older women will encounter more challenges during pregnancies, according to the BBC.
Currently, only couples with a marriage certificate and evidence that the woman is infertile can receive fertility treatment.
A spokesperson of the hospital said it had to comply with the regulation of law and the government in 2019.
Xu took legal action against the hospital the same year, with the case – reportedly the first of its kind – attracting extensive attention, according to CBS.
But three years later, on Friday July 22, a court in Beijing dismissed her lawsuit, ruling that the hospital’s decision was not illegal and “does not constitute an infringement of [her] rights,” according to France 24.
Xu responded to the ruling on social media WeChat, saying she was angry with the ruling and calling it a “temporary setback”.
Xu said she will appeal.
“I still believe that single Chinese women’s reproductive rights will improve and advance,” she said.
She has said she hoped to proceed with the procedure overseas but gave up on the idea due to how much it would cost, according to The New York Times.
