50% Off Base: Why the West Gets China’s Abortion Discounts Wrong

50% Off Base: Why the West Gets China’s Abortion Discounts Wrong
Sep 14, 2009 By Jessica A. Larson-Wang, www , eChinacities.com

Recently an ad in a Chinese newspaper caught the attention of bloggers in America. What was this controversial ad? It was something that most of us living her have seen quite often. No, not ads for massage or KTV or miracle weight loss drugs, but an ad for a hospital, offering a special promotion on abortions. The promotion in question offered a 50% discount to girls who presented a student ID to the hospital, and was criticized by the western press.

Chinese discount abortion ad the west gets wrong
Ads for abortion and plastic surgery clinics. Photo: peruisay

For those of us from countries like America, which has, at best, an uneasy relationship with abortion, it is hard not to be a bit put off by the very direct way in which abortion is confronted in China. I remember the first time I saw a big billboard in Kunming advertising painless abortions, and I remember thinking how tactless it seemed. There was a picture of a happy girl reclining on a bed, obviously worry-free because she’d gotten a quick, easy and pain free abortion. Later on, when my Chinese ability got better, I remember recognizing abortion ads on TV. One in particular showed a girl waking up in a hospital and asking the nurses “Has it started yet?” The nurses smile knowingly, pat her on the hand, and say “It’s already over!” Abortions are just that easy was the message the ad seemed to send.

And in China, they are. Newly pregnant with my son, I went to the hospital for a checkup, and the vast majority of women visiting the OBGYN were young, college or even high school students, accompanied by their boyfriends, best friends, but never their mothers. In a country where birth control is readily available, many young women still hesitate to take advantage of it – some fear “losing face” by buying birth control at the pharmacy. The monthly pill is available, but not often utilized among sexually active students, due to the misconception that only sluts need the pill. Condoms are seen as a man’s responsibility, and many young women are too shy or embarrassed to bring them up. In a country where birth control is much easier for young people to obtain than it is in say, America, abortion is still startlingly common among young people. The main obstacle, perhaps, is price.

However, setting aside the issue of birth control for a moment, the outrage over the ad for half priced abortions is a tad misplaced considering the cultural context. Certainly such an ad might be bold and direct, even tactless, but the concept takes into account certain realities about Chinese society and the place of abortion in this society. While America has, even for a western country, an extremely conservative attitude towards abortion, China does not have the same cultural and religious hang ups about abortion. Abortion has been safe, affordable, and relatively controversy free in China for many years. There are no protestors outside of clinics, and, for better or worse, “abortion” is not a bad word in Chinese society, whereas single motherhood certainly is. While a woman in America with an unwanted pregnancy may choose, rather than abortion, to give her baby up for adoption or to raise it herself, a young Chinese woman does not have the same luxuries.

For most young Chinese, even a high school education is a privilege that requires years of hard work and good grades on an entrance exam qualifying one for a higher education. University education requires even more dedication and hard work, and millions of Chinese teenagers devote years to preparing for the test that will decide their future. Once they have secured a place among the academic elite, they will not give it up easily. Single motherhood, and especially teenaged or college aged single motherhood, is absolutely not acceptable on China’s campuses. As I wrote about recently, high school students can find themselves suspended or expelled simply for being suspected of having sexual relationships, and pregnancy is a one-way ticket out of the classroom. There are no special schools for teen mothers, no extension programs, no programs that allow people to earn high school equivalency degrees. Pregnancy, quite simply, would mean the end of one’s education, most likely for good.

 
Furthermore, if a young, single, pregnant woman in China makes the decision to keep her baby she will be ostracized and ridiculed. She will likely have no financial support from her family; even if her family does aid her, perhaps helping out with childcare, her job prospects will be dismal. Someone without a basic education in China can expect to make less than 1000 RMB a month, hardly enough to feed and clothe a young child, especially without the support of an extended family. Should she happen fall in love with the rare man who accepts her and her child, he will likely face enormous pressure from his family to give up a relationship with a woman who is seen as “damaged goods.” There is no way for the woman to legally and safely give up her baby for adoption, either. Although she could take a risk and abandon the baby near a hospital or an orphanage, this is by no means a safe way to guarantee the baby will have a better life, and if she is discovered, she could face charges of abandonment. She might, if she is lucky, privately find a couple willing to pay her for her baby, but the chances are slim and such arrangements are strictly under the table, leaving her in a vulnerable position. The fact is, women who choose to keep unwanted pregnancies in China are rare. In 7 years here I’ve only met one woman who chose to keep her baby and raise it as a single mother, as opposed to back home, where single parenthood is so common that it barely raises an eyebrow, even among conservatives.

Of course, any die-hard pro-lifers will still say that any of the above options is better than abortion, and I’m not here to have that particular debate, but simply to point out that in China’s cultural context, making abortions a bit more affordable for students makes perhaps more sense than it does in a western one. As always, we should be careful about applying western standards to non-western cultures. Certainly, it would be good to try and reduce the number of abortions in China by raising awareness of birth control and combating some of the social stigmas attached to certain forms of it, or perhaps by instituting more comprehensive sex education in order to erase some of the myths and misconceptions (many young Chinese women, for instance, believe that you can’t get pregnant your first time having sex) surrounding sex and to allow women to make more informed decisions for themselves. However, no matter what, abortion will have its place in Chinese society – it is legal and will remain so, without question – and unless there is a massive and radical shift in the way single young motherhood is viewed in this country, making it more affordable to the young girls who need it the most is not necessarily a bad thing.

***

Related Links

13 million abortions in China each year: report
Student Sex gets Chinese Bloggers Talking
Is it Time for Adoption Reform in China?
Is it Alright to Engage in Extramarital Sex? – China Media Survey

Warning:The use of any news and articles published on eChinacities.com without written permission from eChinacities.com constitutes copyright infringement, and legal action can be taken.

0 Comments

All comments are subject to moderation by eChinacities.com staff. Because we wish to encourage healthy and productive dialogue we ask that all comments remain polite, free of profanity or name calling, and relevant to the original post and subsequent discussion. Comments will not be deleted because of the viewpoints they express, only if the mode of expression itself is inappropriate.