• Teresa Xu won her case almost three years after filing it.
• China’s national legislation does not explicitly forbid unmarried individuals from reproductive treatments.
• Unmarried women have trouble getting maternity leave and prenatal care in China.

An unmarried Chinese woman attempting to preserve her eggs lost a rare judicial challenge in China.

Beijing’s Chaoyang Intermediate People’s Court ruled that the hospital didn’t breach the woman’s rights by rejecting her egg freezing.

Teresa Xu won her case almost three years after filing it.

In China, national legislation does not explicitly forbid unmarried individuals from reproductive treatments and says a “husband and wife” can have up to three children.

In practice, hospitals and other organisations require a marriage licence. Unmarried women who have children have trouble getting maternity leave and prenatal care.

In 2018, Xu, aged 30, went to Beijing Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital to freeze her eggs. She was told she couldn’t continue after an initial exam because she lacked a marriage certificate. She said the doctor told her to have a child young.

Xu wanted to freeze her eggs so she could have children later.

“I think this lost lawsuit, it’s not an attack on single women’s reproductive rights, maybe it’s a temporary setback,” she stated in a WeChat video message.

When Xu first brought her case to court in 2019, Chinese media, including state media, covered it extensively. Local media stated it was the country’s first hospital lawsuit.

The hospital contended egg freezing poses health hazards, the ruling said. Delaying pregnancy poses dangers to the mother during pregnancy and “psychological and societal difficulties” if there is a wide age gap between parents and child.

Egg-freezing procedures are only provided to women who can’t get pregnant naturally, not healthy individuals.

Xu plans to appeal.

“There will definitely be a day (when) we will take back sovereignty over our own bodies,” she declared.

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