The great Chinese abortion debate

Generally speaking, China is not known for its openness, and neither is the Chinese media. Nor are they known for their frankness. Especially when it comes to difficult or sensitive topics. There are, though, exceptions to both of these generalizations, and one such exception was recently found amongst the pages of the English language China Daily. This exception? An article regarding Mainland China's growing abortion rate.

However, and as is often the case when dealing with China, while the article was revealing in the details that it included it was also revealing in what it chose to leave out.

A Growing Concern?

In a recently published article, titled "Abortion statistics cause for concern" the notoriously pro-government China Daily revealed a series of uncomfortable facts about China's abortion rate, and about trends within it. According to the China Daily, and the data on which it based its article, there are over 13 million abortions on the Mainland each year. With the highest proportion of procedures, some 62%, being performed on unwed women in their twenties. More disturbing, the report also revealed that there were increasing instances of unwed women aged 18 or under seeking abortions. An issue which has dogged Western countries, with their morel liberal attitude towards sex, for decades. But which was almost unthinkable in China until relatively recently.

Bad as these figures seem to be the China Daily conceded that the numbers were probably much higher than indicated. Primarily because they only included abortions carried out in state registered facilities, and not in the myriad of unofficial or unregistered clinics found around the country. Particularly in rural areas and areas with large migrant populations.

The China Daily also noted that the figures also did not include abortions carried out at home using the so-called "emergency contraception pill", also known as the "morning after" pill: a high dosage hormone tablet designed to be taken after sex to prevent conception from recent intercourse, or to abort an embryo conceived within the last 5 days. According to the China Daily approximately 10 million doses are sold on the Mainland every year. Though no screenings take place to determine whether the medication actually induced an abortions or prevent conception in those who have taken them.

Blame Game?

According to the China Daily, the Mainland's high abortion rate is primarily down to a lack of knowledge regarding sex and contraception, misinformation about sex and contraception, and lingering cultural taboos.

One Shanghai hospital found that fewer than 1 in 3 Mainland woman who contacted them had sufficient knowledge about contraception. The paper quotes Peking University professor Li Ying s saying that Chinese youth were improperly prepared due to insufficient information being passed down to them by their parents: Many of whom are either embarrassed about the topic or whom are ill informed themselves, as well as a lack of information from the state through education services. While Sun Xiaohong of Shanghai's Population and Family Planning Commission's education center stated that there remained significant resistance to the teaching of sex education classes in schools because some parents and teachers believed that teaching children about sex and contraception would encourage them to experiment.

What the China Daily Didn't Tell You?

While China watchers welcomed the frankness and openness of the China Daily article they however noted one specific area that received no coverage whatsoever. This being the area of so called "gender selection" abortions. Abortions carried out female foetuses by Chinese women wishing ensure that the one child that they are permitted by law is a son.

Figures for sex selection abortion vary between estimating agencies and it is not clear what percentage of the abortions recorded in the China Daily are gender selection abortions, or what percentage of the so-called invisible abortions in unregistered clinics are gender selection abortions.

The topic of gender selection abortions remains a taboo subject on the Mainland. With Beijing trying to discourage it because of the population in balance that is creating, but also being unwilling to face it head on because it amounts to an admission that it has lost control.

China and Abortion?

Unlike the US, where there is substantial opposition to abortions form both liberals and conservatives, and where the so-called "Pro-life" diaspora has lead an often violent crusade against the abortion supporters and facilities - one which has seen the committal of numerous terrorist attacks against abortion clinics, and the murder/attempted murder of those involved in abortions - China has little or no organized resistance to abortion. Making abortions less controversial, and more acceptable.

In part this is due to the state suppression of organized groups, regardless of their cause, by Beijing. With anti-abortion groups being 'discouraged' by the state not because they oppose abortions, but because they represent an organized and coherent group that does not originate from the state.

In part this is also due to the One Child Policy, under which Beijing has sought to remove much of the stigma surrounding abortions, and to increase access to affordable abortions, in order to keep China's population levels down.

International Levels?

Although high, China's abortion rate is high, it is less than half that of Russia. With 2.4% of Mainland women between the ages of 15 and 44 having an abortion in China compared to 5.37% of women in the same age band in Russia.

In contrast, the abortion rate for the same age group in Western countries are much lower than china's. In the UK the abortion rate for woman aged 15-44 is only 1.8%. America's exact abortion rate is unknown as 12% of the national population live in regions that keep no centralized abortion statistics. Though estimates based on national trends put it at approximately 2%. Higher than the UK, but notably lower than China.

Other findings?

In addition to offering incites into abortions in China, the China Daily also noted a worrying lack of knowledge regarding sexually transmitted diseases amongst the Mainland population. With only 17% of people in some regions having more than a basic understanding of STDs and STD transmission. For example, one pole cited by the paper revealed that fewer than 30% of Mainlanders were aware that sexual transmission was a leading factor in the spread of HIV/AIDS.


Ironically, this distinct lack of what might otherwise be considered basic knowledge is in no small part be due to Beijing itself. Since the disease first began to spread on the Mainland it has been the position of state officials that its spread has been primarily due to drug use rather than sexual transmission.

In many regions of China this is actually true. with drugs users being both the primary source and sink of the disease. However, in other cases drugs users have been used as scape goated by officials in order to cover up the fact that outbreaks have been due to tainted blood products or infected blood transfusion equipment. Often due to lax procedures or even corruption.

Drug users have also been used as a scape goat by officials attempting to hide embarrassing details regarding prostitution in their province or city. With local leaders blaming drug users because it is more acceptable for them to admit to underground drugs problems than it is for them to admit to overt vice activities.

In recent years things have changes around in some areas. With young male migrant workers using prostitutes becoming a significant cause of the spread of multiple diseases.

Sex Education?

Although China has become more liberal in recent years sex and contraception still remain somewhat taboo. Even where resources are available people are often unwilling to use them or to discuss the topic out of embarrassment.

Most Chinese schools offer only a basic introduction to sex and contraception, often from a biological perspective. And in many cases Mainland students do not have significant sex education involving emotional aspects until they reach college age. Widely considered to be "several years too late" in much of the developed world, where similar classes are usually taught to children in their mid-early teens.

For these reasons many Mainland youth often use the internet as their primary point of reference, though this has become increasingly difficult in recent years due to many site being blocked by Beijing's anti-pornography drive. With both  educational and entertainment sites often being blocked indiscriminately.

Although it has been acknowledged that China's sex education regime requires both an update and an overhaul many Mainlanders remain concerned over the content of sex education programs. Particularly that if such programs are poorly thought out they could inflame the situation and encourage children to experiment with sex, or to have sex at a n increasingly young age, believing that it id 'safe' or 'acceptable' to do so because they were taught how in school.

China watchers point towards both the US and UK as example of poor practice that should be avoided in China. With both nations taking the opposite approach to sex education, often with disastrous results.

In the US sex education programs cover sex as a biological and a moral topic with the emphasis on discouraging sex rather than preventing pregnancy. Data shows that 80% of US schools place abstinence above contraception as the primary means of preventing pregnancy - and 1 in 3 schools refusing to accept the teaching of contraception at all. This approach often leaves students unprepared to manage their own fertility, vulnerable to various 'quack' methods and myths, or reliant on 'willpower' in the face of peer pressure and a highly sexualized society. So-called abstinence only education also leaves youths vulnerable to sexually transmitted diseases. Particularly those who practice "alternative" sexual practices such as oral sex or penetrative anal sex in the mistaken belief that they 'do not count' as sex, partly due to their exclusion form sex education programs on moral grounds.

In contrast the UK favors a sex education policy almost entirely based around contraception with minimal moral content due to the unusual governmental belief that linking sex and morality may traumatize or otherwise stigmatize those leading promiscuous lifestyles, and that it may lead to people "judging" others if they choose to live immorally. As a result UK sex education programs often take the form of instructional programs on the use of contraception, as well as statutory programs on the biological aspects of pregnancy and gestation. As a result many youths in the UK grow up with full knowledge of the mechanics of sex and contraception, but with minimal moral guidance. As some would say: 'Knowing how to do it, but not why they shouldn't'. Government policies on avoiding 'trauma' or 'stigma' over STD and pregnancy has also lead to many UK youth being unable to understand the associated risks or lifestyle impacts of disease or pregnancy (and often a lack of appreciation of why contraception is important in the first place). In part this attitude is added to by the UK's socialist culture. Leading many young people to believe that becoming diseased or pregnant is 'no big deal' because state health care and welfare programs will step in with everything that they need.

As a result both the US and UK have alarmingly high rates of teenage pregnancy, pregnancy out of wedlock, and STDs. In some regions rates run higher than in war zones where war-rape and forced prostitution are common.

Needless to say, the vast majority of Mainlanders, even more liberal people, consider such an outcome to be unacceptable.

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