Did Induced Abortion Associate with Family Planning Policy in China?
The objective is to test if the family planning program caused in some extent induced abortion in China. Using data from China’s Ministry of Health and data from the 1997 National Population and Reproductive Survey, we found that peaks of induced abortions occurred around the years 1983 and 1991. The rate of induced abortions in rural areas was much lower than that in urban areas, even though the implementation of family planning was heavily emphasized in rural areas. In general, the main cause of induced abortions was “unexpected pregnancy,” but the main cause of induced abortions in rural areas and for minority nationality was “inconsistency with the requirements of family planning policy.” The incidences of induced abortions per ever-conceived woman and the proportion of induced abortions per conception caused by inconsistency with the requirements of family planning were quite low.
