Unmarried Chinese woman sues hospital over refusal to freeze eggs

BEIJING: An unmarried Chinese woman filed a suit against a hospital on Monday for rejecting her request to undergo a medical procedure to freeze her eggs due to her marital status, in China’s first legal challenge of a woman fighting for her reproductive rights.

According to China’s laws on human assisted reproduction, only married couples can use such health services, and they must be able to prove their marital status by showing a marriage license. Teresa Xu, 31, visited the Beijing Obstetrics and Gynaecology Hospital at Capital Medical University in November 2018, wanting to freeze her eggs while she focused on her career as a writer on gender issues.

A woman’s eggs deteriorate in quality as she ages, presenting obstacles to conception among older women. Through a medical procedure, a woman’s eggs can be removed from her ovaries and frozen for use at a later time.