"Intervention in abortion of unmarried people" on the hot search, experts: mainly from the service point of view

"Intervention" in abortions in unmarried people is not new, and there has always been a focus on reproductive health.

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Beijing News reporter Jiang Huizi Editor Fan Yijing Proofreader Liu Baoqing

Recently, the China Family Planning Association released the key points of work in 2022, proposing to carry out special actions for the intervention of abortion in unmarried people, reduce unintended pregnancies and abortions among adolescents, and improve the reproductive health of the masses.

This may be related to the urgent demographic situation on the mainland. In August last year, Wang Pei'an, deputy director of the Population, Resources and Environment Committee of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, secretary of the party group and executive vice president of the China Family Planning Association, said that the growing reproductive health problems of adolescents had posed a "major threat" to the country's population security.

Yang Juhua, a professor at the School of Society and Population of Chinese University, believes that the measure is mainly from the perspective of service, with the aim of improving reproductive health.

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Why "intervene"?

Reproductive health issues have posed a 'significant threat' to national population security

The reporter consulted the key points of the work of the China Family Planning Association (hereinafter referred to as the "Family Planning Association") and found that the "special action to carry out artificial abortion intervention for unmarried people" appeared in the ninth point "Solidly promoting reproductive health services". The original text is to implement reproductive health promotion actions, focusing on solving the outstanding problems of reproductive health of adolescents, childbearing age groups and other specific groups, carrying out special actions for artificial abortion intervention for unmarried people, reducing unintended pregnancies and abortions among adolescents, and improving the reproductive health level of the masses.

This may be related to the urgent demographic situation on the mainland. According to data from the National Health Commission provided by Yang Juhua, the number of abortions on the mainland reached about 9 million last year, and the number of births was 10.62 million. "The difference between the number of abortions and the number of births is already small."

Wang Pei'an also said in August that the growing reproductive health problems of adolescents had posed a "major threat" to the country's population security. According to him, adolescents have become one of the main groups of people with abortion. On the mainland, nearly 4 million unmarried adolescents have abortions each year, accounting for 40% of the total number of abortions, of which 19% have multiple abortions.

Analyzing the reasons, Wang Peian said that under the influence of western concepts of "sexual liberation" and "sexual freedom", most teenagers have an accepting attitude towards premarital sex, resulting in an increasing number of phenomena such as unmarried childbirth, unmarried infertility, and illegal surrogacy.

"Frequent abortion is very detrimental to reproductive health, and may also lead to lifelong infertility", Yang Juhua believes that if adolescents do not have a better understanding in this regard, the lack of corresponding services after abortion will not only damage physical and mental health, but also lead to iatrogenic infertility, which in the long run will damage national fertility and pose a serious threat to the security of the national population. (Note: Iatrogenic infertility refers to female infertility due to improper or overtreatment, such as medical abortion, induced abortion, ectopic pregnancy treatment, etc.)

In her view, from the perspective of the Family Planning Association, the "intervention" is on the one hand to find out the reasons behind the flow of people, and on the other hand, to solve such reasons, the main purpose is to improve the reproductive health of women of childbearing age, especially adolescents, by improving pre-event services.

How to "intervene"?

Expert: From a service point of view

Yang Juhua believes that the Family Planning Association mainly starts from the perspective of service, for example, how to avoid accidental pregnancy, how to provide sound services after abortion, how to further strengthen publicity, and enhance people's understanding of the possible consequences of miscarriage.

The reporter checked the official website of the Family Planning Association and found that in August last year, Wang Peian put forward three suggestions on reproductive health issues in a "focus question answer" and mentioned that the role of mass organizations should be brought into play.

The first is to formulate technical guidelines for sexual and reproductive health education in preschool education, primary and secondary schools, and vocational schools, and improve the institutionalization, scientificization and standardization of adolescent sexual and reproductive health education.

The second is to improve the privacy protection and accessibility of unmarried people's access to contraceptives, access to abortion and other reproductive health issues, and diagnosis and treatment, and establish and improve a system of reproductive health publicity, counseling and technical services that provide high-quality, appropriate and inclusive reproductive health for adolescents.

The third is to strengthen the guidance of marriageable young people's concept of marriage and love and family concept. In this part, Wang Peian pointed out that it is necessary to give play to the role of mass organizations, advocate healthy, safe and responsible life concepts and behaviors, guide young people to establish a positive, correct and healthy concept of marriage and love, and advocate marriage and childbearing of the right age, eugenics, gender equality, and shared responsibility.

This is not a new formulation, and there has always been a focus on reproductive health

In fact, "intervening" in abortions in unmarried people is not a new idea. In September last year, the State Council issued the "Program for the Development of Chinese Women (2021-2030)", which proposed to "reduce abortions that are not medically necessary".

The "Outline" also emphasizes the improvement of women's reproductive health, the integration of reproductive health services into the whole process of women's health management, and the guarantee that women enjoy the right to make informed and independent choices about contraception and birth control. At that time, doctors said that reducing abortions that were not medically necessary was only one of the measures to improve women's reproductive health.

When the reporter inquired about the "key points of work" of the Family Planning Association in the past few years, there were relevant expressions for improving the level of reproductive health. For example, 2021 is expressed as, "... Focus on addressing outstanding reproductive health issues for adolescents, people of childbearing age and other specific populations. Universal knowledge of scientific contraception and reproductive health, reproductive health education, counselling and services..."

Yang Juhua said that improving reproductive health has always been a very important part of family planning. In the context of stricter fertility policies in the past, this manifested itself in the provision of multiple contraceptive methods to minimize unintended or non-policy pregnancies.

Now, the mainland implements the "three-child" policy, and in a more relaxed policy environment, the manifestations of improving reproductive health levels have changed accordingly, with more emphasis on adolescents and more emphasis on services.