A series of activities to raise public awareness of contraception is underway in Beijing, targeting a persistent and sizeable lack of essential contraception knowledge that has accompanied a rise in abortion rates for teenagers.

World Contraception Day (WCD) 2010, which fell Sunday, is an annual global campaign to improve contraception awareness and to educate young people about their sexual and reproductive health.

Under the motto "Contraception: It's Your Life, It's Your Responsibility," China participated in the event a second time to encourage people to take responsibility to prevent unplanned pregnancies or sexually transmitted infections.

An activity to mark WCD with light graffiti was held in the Gulou area on Friday, drawing over 200 participants. Campus publicity events are still ongoing at several major universities, and some hospitals are also providing free consultations.

Figures from the WCD organizers, which include the Asian Pacific Council on Contraception and the International Planned Parenthood Federation, show that over 70 percent of young Chinese people are unaware or feel confused about contraception-related matters. According to the Survey of Youth Access to Reproductive Heath in China issued in April, more than half of young people surveyed did not use any contraceptive measures the first time they had sex.

An increase in terminations of pregnancies that resulted from unprotected sex has aroused experts and doctors' concerns. The survey also showed that among sexually experienced young women, 21.3 percent accidentally got pregnant, and over 86 percent of them chose to have an abortion.

Fan Guangsheng, a gynecology and obstetrics professor from the Peking Union Medical College Hospital, noted that abortions can also pose additional health risks. "Having repeated abortions within half a year, inducing abortions many times and getting an abortion when below age 20 are the three riskiest," he said.

Xia Enlan, a gynecology and obstetrics doctor from the Fuxing Hospital affiliated to the Capital Medical University, told the Global Times that abortion severely harms women both physically and psychologically.

"More and more people now choose to have the operation at private hospitals, making it worse as doctors' qualifications can't be guaranteed," Xia added, warning that frequent abortions might lead to infertility.

Li Yinhe, a noted professor and researcher on sex in China, said the lack of adequate and early sex education should be blamed for the problem. "[Schools and parents] are always avoiding educating children with contraception knowledge, as they worry that young people would start having sex once they have this understanding," Li said.

She added that unmarried people should also be targeted, as they are the main group undergoing abortions.

Source: Global Times, 27 September 2010