The Social and Cultural Implications of the Egg Freezing Policy in China

Abstract

The technology of egg freezing has become increasingly popular and has caused heated scholarly debates. However, most scholarships focus on egg freezing exclusively in the United States. This paper fills in the gap by investigating the social and cultural implications of the egg freezing policy in China. This paper first examines feminist rhetoric used by both sides in the global egg freezing debate. The paper then introduces the current Chinese egg freezing policy. This section addresses the question, “Why does the Chinese government implement the current egg freezing policy?” by analyzing how the Chinese culture views reproduction and single women. By analyzing egg freezing in context of the Chinese culture, I concluded that the older and younger generations have different views on egg freezing. Finally, I share the results from a survey that I designed and distributed to see how Chinese people perceive egg freezing. I found that most respondents support universal access to egg freezing in China but have questions on the risks and disadvantages of egg freezing. Many respondents also perceive egg freezing as a technology to “preserve/guarantee motherhood” for women, which ironically serves to pressure women into motherhood instead of giving them true reproductive freedom.