A Chinese court has ruled that an unmarried woman’s rights were not violated when a hospital refused to freeze her eggs because of her marital status.

In 2018, Teresa Xu, then 30, sought to have her eggs frozen at the Beijing Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital at Capital Medical University, a technique that would allow her to use her eggs at a later date to have children.

The hospital refused to grant Xu access to the procedure because she was single, and egg-freezing was reserved for married women with fertility issues.

Instead, Xu said, hospital staff encouraged her to have a baby, despite the problems single mothers often face from Chinese society and the government.

Xu had wanted the procedure so she could focus on her career.

The BBC reported that Xu had thought about going abroad for the procedure but discovered that it was too expensive.

In 2019, she sought help from the court.

Xu said she plans to appeal the court’s ruling.

“There will definitely be a day [when] we will take back sovereignty over our own bodies,” she said.