Xu Zaozao, 36, an unmarried Chinese woman, has lost her final court appeal, denying her the right to freeze her eggs in China.
The procedure is only available to married women in China, a country where women's rights have become a growing concern amid low birthrates.
Xu has said she wanted to freeze her eggs to give herself the option of having a child, even if she doesn't have 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.
While she said this result was expected, Xu added:
"The most important thing is that, after so many years, we've finally reached an end, a result of sorts, an answer," and she vowed "not to give up" on the cause, reported France24.
In 2018, Xu, then 30, tried to have her eggs frozen at a Beijing hospital; however, officials refused, stating the procedure was only available to women who could not become pregnant naturally.
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."
But she launched an appeal the following year.
Despite losing the legal battle, Xu revealed she was glad to have initiated a public debate on the matter.
"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 favorable to single women," she said.
In 2022, China recorded its first population decline in six decades, pushing the government to encourage citizens to have more children.
Thanks to economic development, many Chinese women have entered the job market, especially in recent decades, giving them the option to marry later in life.
Women all over the world have chosen to freeze their eggs in the hope of having children in the future, and while some Chinese women freeze their eggs in foreign countries where the procedure is permitted, Xu stated that not all women have the financial resources to do so.
