CRI听力:World Population Day Themed Adolescent Pregnancy

According to a report from the United Nations Population Fund or UNFPA, about 16 million girls under the age of 18 give birth each year. Another 3.2 million undergo unsafe abortions.

The report says that the vast majority, about 90 per cent, of pregnant adolescents in the developing world are married, but for far too many of these girls, pregnancy has little to do with informed choice. Often, it is a consequence of discrimination, rights violations including child marriage, inadequate education or sexual coercion.

Teen pregnancies are a health issue. Li Yan, director of gynaecology at the Women and Children's Healthcare Center in Luoyang, Henan Province, says that young mothers face a heightened risk of maternal complications that even include death and disability. The abortion operation may have a huge negative impact on their health.

"Adolescent girls may have developed sex organs, but they are still far from being completely developed. If they undergo repeated abortion operations, it may result in paramenia, leaving them incapable of pregnancy. Most of the girls are students. They need rest, to follow medical instructions and suspend sexual activity for at least a month after the operation, more so than adults. But due to lack of awareness, some of them just go to class right after the operation. This may bring great harm to their health."

Li Yan says some of the girls who come to their hospital to have abortion operation appear to be a lot younger than the age they tell the doctor. Some are extremely freaked out while others regard the abortion procedure to be as a simple as pulling out a wisdom tooth.

To provide pregnant adolescents with proper medical, psychological and legal assistance, many cities across China have established aid centers to treat adolescent accidental pregnancies.

Xu Ke is the chairman of Women's Federation in Jiu Long Po District of Chongqing Municipality. She says from a recent survey they conducted indicates that the average age for teen pregnancies is getting younger.

"We conducted a survey of 8 universities in Chongqing in 2007. 28.2 percent of respondents engaged in sexual behavior. 60 percent agreed with premarital sexual behavior and 10 percent of those surveyed had experienced abortion operation. We conducted another survey to more than 4 thousand students from 12 schools in Chongqing in 2012. The corresponding figure was 42, 64 and 13 percent respectively. The shows the sexually mature age is becoming younger."

Jiu Long Po district established an adolescent accidental pregnancy aid center in June this year.

Xu Ke says one female vocational school student who came for help felt that abortion operations are nothing special, and that she could have the operation as long as she was pregnant. Another girl she met is pregnant because of meeting a friend online. Later, the boy disappeared. When she realized she was pregnant, she was so unnerved that she didn't dare to tell her parents. Both girls could have avoided becoming pregnant had they taken simple precautions.

Xu Ke thinks that sex education in China is still lagging behind while contemporary adolescents are maturing at a younger age. Not only school, parents' awareness should be raised as well.

"On one hand, I do believe sex education should be reinforced in our schools. On the other hand, I strongly advise parents: don't abuse your daughter for pregnancy. You should help her at the first time when pregnancy happens. Or they may miss the best time to terminate accidental pregnancy or go to unqualified hospitals to have the operation. Our organization is also carrying education projects in rural areas, which teaches children how to prevent themselves from becoming sexual assault victims."

According to statistics issued by China's National Health and Family Planning Commission in 2012, more than 13 million abortion operations are carried out every year. This number doesn't even include the uncounted medical abortion and unregistered abortion operations performed in unqualified hospitals. More than half of these patients are below the age of 25.

UNFPA says they will issue State of World Population report 2013 in October this year, which will delve into the issue in greater detail.

For CRI, I am Li Dong.