On Sunday, May 13th, The New York Times covered the changing demographic of abortion clinics in China: where a decade ago, abortion was “associated with married women complying, voluntarily or not, with the country’s one-child abortion policy” abortion clinics now see more young, unmarried women – often on multiple occasions. As with China in general, this change is attributed to the rise of a new generation of urban Chinese “in a China increasingly unmoored from the values, and inhibitions of traditional culture,” as well as to a serious gap in women’s sex education, with state efforts skewed towards controlling married women’s reproductive activity. According to state health experts and the non-profit reproductive services provider, Marie Stopes International, “many single women lack even a basic understanding of reproductive health and contraception.” Issues facing these women as they consider abortion include confidentiality and avoiding “quack” treatment. While safety is usually not a problem in public hospitals, which provide the service for around $65, unlicensed private operations have grown so rampant that the government has banned abortion advertising. In the absence of clear and available information, abortion and morning-after pills are used more often as a contraceptive. To address this issue, non-profits like Marie Stopes International, as well as hotlines and instant-message communities, like the article’s featured Women’s Tribe, seek to provide a forum for concerns, questions, and answers.
.