Overview of the legality and prevalence of abortions in China
Abortion in China is legal at all stages of pregnancy and generally accessible nationwide.[1][2][3][4] Abortions are available to most women through China's family planning program, public hospitals, private hospitals, and clinics nationwide.[4] China was one of the first developing countries to permit abortion when the pregnant woman's health was at risk and make it easily accessible under these circumstances in the 1950s.[4][5] Following the Chinese Communist Revolution and the proclamation of the People's Republic of China in 1949, the country has periodically switched between more restrictive abortion policies to more liberal abortion policies and reversals. Abortion regulations may vary depending on the rules of the province. In an effort to curb sex-selective abortion, Jiangxi and Guizhou restrict non-medically necessary abortions after 14 weeks of pregnancy,[6] while throughout most of China elective abortions are legal after 14 weeks. Although sex-selective abortions are illegal nationwide, they were previously commonplace, leading to a sex-ratio imbalance in China which still exists.
In the past, virtually universal access to contraception and abortion for its citizens by a national government service was a common way for China to contain its population in accordance with its now-defunct one-child policy.[7] It was scaled back when the policy was removed in 2015 in favor of a two-child policy and in turn was replaced by a three-child policy in 2021.[8] In 2022, in an effort to boost the country's birth rate, the National Health Commission announced that it would direct measures toward reducing non-medically necessary abortions through a number of measures, including expanded pre-pregnancy healthcare, infant care services, and local government efforts to boost family-friendly work places.
^"World Population Policies | Population Division". www.un.org. Archived from the original on 2022-06-24. Retrieved 2022-06-24.
^"The World's Abortion Laws". Center for Reproductive Rights. Archived from the original on 2022-06-23. Retrieved 2022-06-24.
^Miller, Claire Cain; Sanger-Katz, Margot (2022-01-22). "On Abortion Law, the U.S. Is Unusual. Without Roe, It Would Be, Too". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 2022-06-23. Retrieved 2022-06-24.
^ abc"China's controversial history of abortion needs different cultural lens". South China Morning Post. 2022-06-19. Archived from the original on 2022-10-26. Retrieved 2023-01-01.
^Gligorov, Nada (April 2008). "Behind the Silence: Chinese Voices on Abortion". Developing World Bioethics. 8 (1): 53–55. doi:10.1111/j.1471-8847.2006.00170.x. ISSN 1471-8731.
^"China: new rules to prevent sex-selective abortions raise fears". The Guardian. 22 Jun 2018. Archived from the original on 24 June 2022. Retrieved 24 June 2022.
^Hesketh, Therese; Lu, Li; Xing, Zhu Wei (2005). "The Effect of China's One-Child Family Policy after 25 Years". New England Journal of Medicine. 353 (11): 1171–1176. doi:10.1056/NEJMhpr051833. PMID 16162890. Archived from the original on 2012-04-21. Retrieved 2011-12-05.
^"Abortion Law: Global Comparisons". Council on Foreign Relations. Archived from the original on 2022-06-24. Retrieved 2022-06-24.
AbortioninChina is legal at all stages of pregnancy and generally accessible nationwide. Abortions are available to most women through China's family...
Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. An abortion that occurs without intervention is known as a miscarriage...
of China Rural society in the People's Republic of China Women in ancient China Missing women of China Female infanticide inChinaAbortioninChina Chinese...
2, 2012, Feng Jianmei (Chinese: 冯建梅; pinyin: Féng Jiànméi) was forced to have an abortionin Zhenping County, Shaanxi, China, when she was seven months...
legalized by the Genetic Health Act (Chinese: 優生保健法), enacted in 1985 and last amended in 2009, which makes abortion accessible for unmarried adult women...
induced elective abortion care. In the twentieth century China used induced abortion as part of a "one-child policy" birth control campaign in an effort to...
Forced abortions associated with administration of the one-child policy have occurred in the People's Republic of China; they are a violation of Chinese law...
Abortion laws vary widely among countries and territories, and have changed over time. Such laws range from abortion being freely available on request...
Abortion is a divisive issue in the United States. The issue of abortion is prevalent in American politics and culture wars, though a majority of Americans...
Abortionin the United Kingdom is de facto available under the terms of the Abortion Act 1967 in Great Britain and the Abortion (Northern Ireland) (No...
Abortionin Canada is legal throughout pregnancy and is publicly funded as a medical procedure under the combined effects of the federal Canada Health...
Abortionin Europe varies considerably between countries and territories due to differing national laws and policies on its legality, availability of...
medical abortion, also known as medication abortion or non-surgical abortion, occurs when drugs (medication) are used to bring about an abortion. Medical...
Abortionin Australia is legal. There are no federal abortion laws, and full decriminalisation of the procedure has been enacted in all jurisdictions...
they had forced his wife to have an abortion when she was pregnant with their second child, in accordance with China's one-child policy. Tian already had...
in half-Chinese babies. North Korean women who have been sold into prostitution or marriage inChina and then forcibly repatriated receive abortions if...
Abortionin Germany is decriminalized on demand during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy upon condition of mandatory counseling. The same goes later in...
Abortionin Japan is allowed under a term limit of 22 weeks for endangerment to the health of the pregnant woman, economic hardship, or rape. Chapter...
Abortionin Russia is legal as an elective procedure up to the 12th week of pregnancy, and in special circumstances at later stages. Following the takeover...
preference inChina has contributed to sex-selective abortions following the development of ultrasound machines in the 1980s and China's One-Child policy...
Abortionin France is legal upon request until 14 weeks after conception (16 weeks after the pregnant woman's last menstrual period). Abortions at later...
ban. AbortioninChina is generally legal and accessible. Abortions are widely accepted socially and are available to all women through China's family...
Muslim views on abortion are shaped by Hadith (the words, actions, and the silent approval of the Islamic prophet Muhammad as transmitted through chains...
Christianity and abortion have a long and complex history. There is no direct reference to abortionin the Bible, nor any explicit condemnation of abortion. The lack...
Abortionin New Zealand is available within the framework of the Abortion Legislation Act 2020, which entirely eliminated the criminal status of abortion...
to as third trimester abortion, describes the termination of pregnancy by induced abortion during a late stage of gestation. In this context, late is...
Since 2021, abortion has no longer been a federal crime in Mexico. However, the criminal law in Mexico varies by state. On 7 September 2023, the Mexican...
Global Information