– 1960

– 1965

– 1970

– 1975

– 1980

– 1985

– 1990

– 1995

– 2000

– 2005

– 2010

– 2015

– 2020

1960 The government proposed birth “restaint” measures in cities and densely populated rural areas to control the nature population growth rate encouraged marrying later in life

1973 ‘Later-Longer-Fewer Policy’ was introduced

1984 allowed families in rural areas to have a second child if their first born was a girl

2002 allowed to have a second child if both parents were only children

2013 allowed all families to have two children if ether parent was an only child, which aimed to promote more balanced population growth

2015 allowed two births per family

Total population and fertility
in reation to the change of policy

Distribution of population density and fertility rate

Female undergraduate and graduate students(millions) and Female college students, as a proportion of all students(%)

900

800

700

600

500

400

300

200

100

0

Contraceptive Methods

While it is true that many urban couples had pledged to have only one child, the one–child policy had not been strictly implemented in the rural areas (Kaufman et al. 1989). The government not only requires couples to practice birth control, but also often told them what type of contraceptive method they must use. The policy became nationwide in scope when the government announced in 1982 that women with one child must use the IUD, and couples with two children must had one partner sterilized (Wu & Walther).

This changed during the 1980s when a second birth was allowed only for daughter–only couples, and having a third birth clearly constituted a violation of family planning policy in vast rural areas of the country. A study of 4 rural counties in the late 1980s showed that 76 percent of women with one child were using IUDs, and two–thirds of the women with two children were sterilized (Kaufman et al. 1989:725). The reasons for having an abortion, first of all, is the implement of the one-child policy. For instance, when having an unexpected or unauthorized pregnancy, women were often encouraged to have an abortion rather than paying a penalty.

Second, for some women, abortion is the main contraceptive choice. Due to the limited access to contraceptive products or the lack of information about them, abortion become some women’s primary method of birth control (Wu & Walther). They believed that taking pills is more harmful than having an abortion. Besides, “there is a clear distinction between neonatal infanticide and postnatal abortion: according to one 1997 survey of more than 600 Chinese respondents regarding their attitudes toward abortion, 69 percent felt that abortion was not equivalent to killing an infant, and 73 percent felt that it was not equivalent to killing a human being” (King, 2014, pp.182).

The third is the societal preference for sons. Johnson explained the reason of son preference in her book Women, the Family, and Peasant Revolution in China (1992): Furthermore, women themselves are likely to continue to have powerful motivations for having families with sons. Not only do older women share older men’s need for sons to provide social security in old age, but the impact of traditional marriage patterns and unreformed structures on women’s position in their husband’s family and community continue to make women’s traditional uterine family very important to them. As long as women remain outsiders in their husband’s communities and families and lack significant new sources of power and prestige, they will rely on male children as an important, perhaps primary, source of status, influence, and membership in family and community.

The skewed sex ratio is one of the issues caused by the policy. Scholars argue that the abnormal sex ratio is part to sex selective abortion because of son preference after the popularization of ultrasound equipment (Zeng, 1993). That is couples would undergo an abortion if they found out the fetus is female (Hull 1990; Zeng et al., 1993). Even though “since 1986 by the PRC government to outlaw ultrasound use to reveal fetal sex, parents intent on having a son have still found ways to circumvent such prohibitions” (King,2014).

The amount of abortion related to the strictness of the policy’s execution.

– 1975

– 1980

– 1985

– 1990

– 1995

– 2000

– 2005

– 2010

– 2015

– 2020

IUDs

Zhou’s study of Chinese women’s contraceptive patterns found that the general contraceptive rate of urban women was higher than that of rural women. The IUD was the most widely chosen contraceptive method among urban women, with sterilization being second; the reverse was the case for rural women (Zhou, 1991).

The poor information often offered to women included the fact that providers tend to use national guidelines instead of health considerations for prescribing methods. They tend to recommend the IUDs for birth spacing after the first birth, and sterilization after the second birth.

In the early 70s, IUD became the primary contraception method in the family planning program (Li, 2018). The low cost is the main reason for its popularity. It has a low failure rate compared to other contraception methods. There are also advanced and “effective IUDs such as the Copper T 380A and 220C” that apeared later worldwide. “By comparison, the stainless steel ring and other first genera– tion IUDs currently used throughout China have a higher failure rate” (Li et al., 1994, pp.124). In 1992, there are estimated 90% of the IUD use is stainless steel ring. Since the government provides it for free, the impediment of widespread the more effective IUD, TCu, is its 5–6 times prices than those of the stainless steel ring (Li et al., 1994, pp.124).

Unskilled operators increased IUDs’ failure rate. A research by National Population and Family Planning Commission in 2007 shows that the rate of insufficient IUDs discontinuation placed by unskilled operators is higher. The percentage of bleeding, abdominal pain, and low back pain caused by IUD placed by someone who has been in the industry for 1 to 4 years are 5.61%, 11.11% and 24.84%, respectively. They are higher than those of more skilled operators.

“Given China’s low average education levels, especially among rural women, the tasks of family planning programs to enhance women’s contraceptive knowledge should include their awareness of their own reproductive rights” (Wu&Walther).

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