Imagine the following ad on Chinese TV: in the beginning a young couple is shown in moonlight, holding hands and kissing while the music plays in background. You, of course, expect it to be the advertisement of something sweet and romantic… but you are going to be disappointed – unless the quick abortion without pain is falling under the category of “romantic” in your dictionary.

Abortion ads are ubiquitous in China. TV programs, newspapers, magazines are full of pictures of smiling girls promoting these operations with special incentives and discounts. If you are a female student, then by showing the student ID card, you can be lucky to get 50% discount on abortion – as one famous poster of Chongqing hospital for women promised. Universities indeed care about their students – and for freshmen Alma Mater has a handbook with lots of useful information on where to make love and how to get rid of its “fruits” afterwards.

Yatour travel agency in which I worked in the past is located not far from the Chongqing Health Center for Women and Children. So I was happy to accompany my good friend Yang Min for regular check-ups in this hospital during the course of her pregnancy. And each time I didn’t stop to wonder how many 18-, 19-, 20-years old girls were waiting in the corridor… but not for pregnancy check-up :sad: .

Widespread abortions is not the only problem of women’s health in China. Unfortunately, Chinese girls have very undesirable preferences in the field of contraception. As the recent survey of China Population Communication Center shows many Chinese women prefer the “morning-after pill” to other forms of contraception.

The usage of this medicine as ongoing contraception has three major drawbacks: 1) serious side effects 2) lack of protection against sexually transmitted diseases, and 3) high rate of failures (unwanted pregnancies) which eventually lead girls to seek for the aforementioned solutions of affordable abortions.

The logical question is: if girl decided to take pills as means of contraception – why would she prefer to use the “morning-after” pill instead of other less harmful hormonal methods?

In order to answer this question, let me give you an example from different situation. One of my former colleagues was a very occasional smoker. During the lunch break he used to smoke a cigarette or two that he was “borrowing” from co-workers. But he never bought cigarettes by himself. One time he was asked why he never bought cigarettes of his own. He explained that he didn’t regard himself as a smoker – since he smoked only in company of other people. But if he would buy cigarettes – then it would mean that he recognized himself as a smoker, and he would feel bad about it.

Something similar is going through some Chinese girls’ heads.
Good Chinese girls shouldn’t have sex! Well… maybe sometimes :roll: But for such kind of “emergencies” there are these special pills. However, if some girl would buy the pills that have to be taken on constant basis – then she is automatically a “bad” girl… slut!

Let’s move to the last problem I want to mention. It is related to a very high proportion of C-sections in China. The growth of C-sections as means of delivery is the worldwide tendency but the reasons are different in various countries. For example, in U.S. it can be explained as self-defense of medical personnel against possible lawsuits (since in some cases it is easier to avoid complications by performing the operation than doing the continuous monitoring during natural delivery).

In developing countries (and China in the past) the main reason for growth of C-sections is the wider availability of medical services to the general population. But how can you explain this phenomenon when almost half of all deliveries are done by the means of surgery (while the level recommended by WHO is no more than 15%)?

The main reason is that medical staff is interested to increase the rate of C-sections. Compared to natural delivery the standard surgical procedures are characterized by more predictable usage of resources (time, staff and drugs) and are financially incentivized.
Marketers know that minimizing losses and avoiding pain is the more powerful “call for action” than promise of gains and pleasure.
And since delivery is naturally associated with fear and pain, doctors don’t find it difficult to persuade young women that C-section is the optimal choice. From talking with my friends and cousins I can attest that many (if not most) Chinese girls are very afraid of pain accompanying the childbirth and will themselves ask for operation without relation to medical indications. And doctors not always will say “No”.

As you can see there are many problems in the field of women’s health in China rooting from controversial social norms and lack of education in this area. I just hope that it won’t take too long to change the situation for better.

Hopeful Crystal Tao