Chinese woman loses appeal for right to freeze her eggs

Xu Zaozao has struggled since 2018 to win the right to freeze her eggs. [AFP]

An unmarried Chinese woman said Wednesday 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 option of having a child alone if she could not find a partner.

"The appeal is rejected and the original judgment is confirmed," she said Wednesday evening in a live video broadcast on Chinese 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, while 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, telling her that the procedure was only available to women who could not become pregnant naturally, and not to healthy patients.

She filed a lawsuit in response, 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 lodged an appeal the following year.

Although her legal challenge was unsuccessful, Xu said Wednesday 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, as birthrates have dropped, and the government is now strongly encouraging citizens to have babies.

But economic development has pushed more Chinese women into the job market in recent decades, leaving many choosing to marry later in life.

Many also face pressure from parents to get married and have a child after the age of 30.

Women across the world choose to freeze their eggs to give them a greater chance of having children later in life.

Egg freezing consists of removing the oocytes before preserving them in liquid nitrogen to be used in a subsequent pregnancy.

While some single Chinese women freeze their eggs in foreign countries where the procedure is permitted, Xu said many do not have the financial means to do so.