Reading the news can be irritatingly difficult in China, but on the internet, the mail always gets through one way or another. I try to keep up with current western events, in fear that I will get home and be embarrassingly ignorant that Prince William got married or prostitution is legal, or anything unlikely as that.
I have been reading recently about the scuffle in the United States over Planned Parenthood, Head Start and a cluster of related issues. It reminded me of this poster, on the left, that I see every day on the way to class.
This poster sums up a lot about how the Chinese see abortion. It is posted on an automatic shoe polishing machine in my university residence lobby. Before I say more, here is a rough translation:
Nanjing Huaxi Gynecological Hospital
For gynecology, choose Huaxi
In 3 minutes, painlessly resolve love's little accidents. All inclusive price: 480 yuan.
"Accident troubles, worry no more,
Huaxi hospital, second floor!"
Huaxi sisters accident helpline:
The word "abortion" never appears, but for a North American, even of the northern kind, the brashness of this poster is breathtaking. I cannot imagine an abortion clinic advertising like this this in Canada, even if there were a need to do so. Much less would such an advertisement use a cute rhyming couplet to get its message across. It's not that this ad says anything offensive; it just grates on the North American sense of propriety.
The simple message behind this ad is "Don't worry."
"Don't worry, it's not a big deal. It will only take a few minutes. It's just a little mistake, that's all. It's not even expensive. See, we'll even make a little rhyme about it. And see these nice nurses in clean uniforms? They're your friends. They understand these things. They will make your little problem go away, and they certainly won't say the A word to make you uncomfortable."
In China, abortion is also part of a complex moral problem, but not the same one as in the west. The morality of abortion itself is not particularly contested here. I have yet to speak to a Chinese person young or old, male or female, who believes that abortion is inherently wrong. I'm sure such people exist, but their influence is not significant.
The real moral issue has to do with premarital sex. Premarital sex is a vice in China, but not a particularly large one. It fits in with drinking too much, gambling, and playing too much World of Warcraft as things that you probably should not do because they will interfere with your life. The Chinese have a healthy respect for privacy, however, so whatever you do in your spare time is more or less your business as long as you do well in school, get a good job, get married, and have children eventually. Also, you should not talk about it too much.
Unfortunately, the intense privacy of premarital sex has its own problems. According to studies conducted by Beijing sexologist Ma Xiaonian, Chinese women are painfully uninformed. Many falsely believe that birth control will make them infertile, and thus regularly use the cheap ($4 CAD) and available morning after pill as a substitute. In reality, the inverse is true. Before I went travelling over the winter, a Chinese friend advised me not to use towels in hotels so as to avoid catching STIs.
For a Chinese woman, buying a morning after pill once and a while or going in for an abortion is acceptable because - like the poster above suggests - she is just fixing a little accident. Buying condoms or birth control, however, means that she is planning things in advance, which makes her promiscuous.
And so here we are, with a blooming industry for cheap, discreet, accessible abortions. However you feel about abortions morally, this is not good news. This business has nothing to do with the acceptance of abortion as a necessary medical procedure - something that came naturally to China - and everything to do with a lack of education about or access to birth control. I have seen more than one mention in the news of a young Chinese woman suffering irreperable damage to her uterus after having a third or fourth abortion before the age of 18. While I think abortions should be availabe everywhere, I would not be sad to see the likes of Huaxi Gynecological Hospital go out of business.
I have been reading recently about the scuffle in the United States over Planned Parenthood, Head Start and a cluster of related issues. It reminded me of this poster, on the left, that I see every day on the way to class.
This poster sums up a lot about how the Chinese see abortion. It is posted on an automatic shoe polishing machine in my university residence lobby. Before I say more, here is a rough translation:
Nanjing Huaxi Gynecological Hospital
For gynecology, choose Huaxi
In 3 minutes, painlessly resolve love's little accidents. All inclusive price: 480 yuan.
"Accident troubles, worry no more,
Huaxi hospital, second floor!"
Huaxi sisters accident helpline:
The word "abortion" never appears, but for a North American, even of the northern kind, the brashness of this poster is breathtaking. I cannot imagine an abortion clinic advertising like this this in Canada, even if there were a need to do so. Much less would such an advertisement use a cute rhyming couplet to get its message across. It's not that this ad says anything offensive; it just grates on the North American sense of propriety.
The simple message behind this ad is "Don't worry."
"Don't worry, it's not a big deal. It will only take a few minutes. It's just a little mistake, that's all. It's not even expensive. See, we'll even make a little rhyme about it. And see these nice nurses in clean uniforms? They're your friends. They understand these things. They will make your little problem go away, and they certainly won't say the A word to make you uncomfortable."
In China, abortion is also part of a complex moral problem, but not the same one as in the west. The morality of abortion itself is not particularly contested here. I have yet to speak to a Chinese person young or old, male or female, who believes that abortion is inherently wrong. I'm sure such people exist, but their influence is not significant.
The real moral issue has to do with premarital sex. Premarital sex is a vice in China, but not a particularly large one. It fits in with drinking too much, gambling, and playing too much World of Warcraft as things that you probably should not do because they will interfere with your life. The Chinese have a healthy respect for privacy, however, so whatever you do in your spare time is more or less your business as long as you do well in school, get a good job, get married, and have children eventually. Also, you should not talk about it too much.
Unfortunately, the intense privacy of premarital sex has its own problems. According to studies conducted by Beijing sexologist Ma Xiaonian, Chinese women are painfully uninformed. Many falsely believe that birth control will make them infertile, and thus regularly use the cheap ($4 CAD) and available morning after pill as a substitute. In reality, the inverse is true. Before I went travelling over the winter, a Chinese friend advised me not to use towels in hotels so as to avoid catching STIs.
For a Chinese woman, buying a morning after pill once and a while or going in for an abortion is acceptable because - like the poster above suggests - she is just fixing a little accident. Buying condoms or birth control, however, means that she is planning things in advance, which makes her promiscuous.
And so here we are, with a blooming industry for cheap, discreet, accessible abortions. However you feel about abortions morally, this is not good news. This business has nothing to do with the acceptance of abortion as a necessary medical procedure - something that came naturally to China - and everything to do with a lack of education about or access to birth control. I have seen more than one mention in the news of a young Chinese woman suffering irreperable damage to her uterus after having a third or fourth abortion before the age of 18. While I think abortions should be availabe everywhere, I would not be sad to see the likes of Huaxi Gynecological Hospital go out of business.
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