Single women cry foul as China doubles down on egg freezing ban, accusing authorities of gender bias and forcing women into marriage

China’s National Health Commission has claimed medical risks and ethical issues are behind its ban on single women freezing their eggs.

The commission’s stance has come under fire from Chinese internet users, who described the ban as discriminatory and said it deprived women of their right to have children later in life.

In China, assisted reproductive technology is largely used to help married women with fertility issues. Medical regulations deny single women access to treatments for in vitro fertilisation and egg freezing offered by Chinese hospitals and agencies. However, single men are legally entitled to freeze their sperm for use at a later date.

In a statement released on the commission’s website last month, it said egg-freezing technology would remain inaccessible to single women because the retrieval of eggs was invasive and medically risky and had the potential to affect a woman’s health. It also cited ethical issues, highlighting the unspoken potential for commercial exploitation of the practice by women selling their eggs. Surrogacy is illegal in China.

The commission said that it was considering giving the regulation barring single women the right to egg freezing and IVF treatment the force of law.