Too Many Males
China’s restrictive one-child policy and historical preference for males are leading to a country overrun with bachelors. The BBC reported on Chinese official statistics which anticipate there will be 40 million single men in China by the year 2020. Hainan Island currently has the most skewed rates in the country, with 135 boys born for every 100 girls. Nationwide, there are two million more boys born each year than girls. On Hainan Island, the one-child policy has been changed to allow for a second child if the first child born to a couple is a girl. Still, many baby girls are aborted, and the infant mortality rates for girls are high. One pediatrician on Hainan Island estimates that 70% of the newborns born in the hospital where she works are boys. Chinese officials are concerned that the shortage of brides in the future will lead to more prostitution, sex crimes, and wife-buying (and homosexuality?). But the easiest solution — abandoning the one-child policy — is not even considered.
(Louisa Lim, “China fears bachelor future,” BBC News, 7 April 2004)
Shanghai Couples
China’s one-child policy is strictly enforced in Shanghai, leading to high abortion rates, especially among young married couples. The solution? Well, according to the Alan Guttmacher Institute (AGI), the solution is more contraception. Forty percent of married women in Shanghai become pregnant after having their only permitted child. Most of these pregnancies end in abortion, since couples are allowed only one child. A recent Alan Guttmacher Institute study states that, “Overall, we infer that the widespread resort to abortion by married couples in Shanghai reflects primarily not conscious or semiconscious reproductive wishes, but rather imperfect fertility control.” Rather than seeing that these abortions are primarily a result of China’s coercive policy, AGI believes that “imperfect fertility control,” or lack of contraception is to blame.
(Unintended pregnancy Among Newly Married Couples in Shanghai, http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/journals/3000604.html)
AIDS in China
AIDS is spreading at a rate of 30% per year in China. There may be as many as 10 million cases by the year 2010. In order to combat this, government officials in China plan to distribute free condoms at all entertainment venues. This includes free condom dispensers in hotels and other areas where prostitution is rampant. The health ministry will also give out new syringes for drug users. HIV/AIDS in China infects mostly prostitutes and drug addicts. The proposal has met with opposition, since some feel that these two measures will only encourage drug use and prostitution, leading to increased rates of HIV infection.
(“China plans for free condoms,” Herald Sun, 12 April 20004)
MAPS for Australian Teens
Contraceptive implants are not the only danger facing young girls in Australia. Girls as young as 13 are purchasing the morning-after pill (MAP), sometimes repeatedly, now that it is available without a doctor’s prescription. On January 1, the Australian Therapeutic Good Administration authorized the over-the-counter sale of the Posinor-2 MAP without any restrictions. Pharmacists in Perth reported that young teens under 16 are requesting the MAP, sometimes returning to buy it several times within a matter of weeks. One young girl purchased the pill, which costs $30, three times in a two-week period. The MAP works by “blocking the implantation of a fertilized egg in the uterus.” In other words, it causes an early abortion. Some pharmacists are concerned about the repeated use of the drug, and medical groups are worried that it will encourage increased promiscuity among young people.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which is set to decide on over-the-counter sales of the morning after pill in the U.S. on May 20, would do well to take heed of Australia’s experience.
(Cathy O’Leary, “Abortion pill being sold to 13yr girls,” The West Australian, quoted in LifeSiteNews.com, 6 April 2004)
