HONG KONG: China is mulling to allow single women access to in-vitro fertility (IVF) treatment legally in a private clinic as it tries to slow its demographic decline.

The changes mean unmarried women can take paid maternity leave and receive child subsidies previously only available to married couples.

This has benefited women like Chen Luojin, a 33-year-old divorcee living in Chengdu, the capital of the southwestern Sichuan province, which legalised registration of children by unmarried women in February, something China is considering implementing nationwide to address record low birth rates. She is now 10 weeks pregnant.

“Becoming a single parent is not for everyone, but I’m happy with the decision,” said Chen.

Some provinces have already legalised registration of children by unmarried females

“Equally, getting married or not is for each individual to decide. We have liberalised the policies here and I know a lot of single women are doing IVF.”

Concerned about China’s first population drop in six decades and its rapid ageing, the government’s political advisers proposed in March that single and unmarried women should have access to egg freezing and IVF treatment, among other services. China’s leaders have not commented publicly on the recommendations.

China’s National Health Commi­ssion (NHC) did not respond to a request for comment, though it has previously acknowledged that many young women are delaying plans to marry and have children, noting that high costs of education and child-rearing have contributed to declining marriage rates.

Shanghai and the southern Guangdong province have also permitted unmarried women to register their children but IVF services for single women remain banned.

Huge unmet need

Experts have said Lyppens said most IVF clinics in China operated at full capacity before the Covid-19 pandemic, and are likely to be in a similar situation again soon as the country has lifted virus-related curbs.

Chinese hospitals and clinics, both public and private, provide about 1 million rounds of IVF treatment — or cycles — annually, compared with 1.5 million in the rest of the world, according to academic journals and industry experts.

The price for a cycle — which involves medication for ovarian stimulation, egg collection, insemination in a laboratory and embryo transfer — is regulated in China. It ranges between $3,500 and $4,500, about a quarter of US prices.

China’s IVF market, including treatment, drugs and equipment, is expected to grow at a compound annual rate of 14.5 per cent in coming years, nearly doubling to 85.4bn yuan in 2025 from 49.7bn yuan, research house Leadleo estimated in a report last year.

Gender power imbalances, the stigma in Chinese society that single pregnant women face, and the lack of social surveys make it difficult to quantify total demand for IVF, industry experts say.

China implemented a rigid one-child policy from 1980 until 2015 that have allowed India to become the world’s most populous nation. The limit has since been raised to three children.

Published in Dawn, April 30th, 2023