Beijing, July 30 (Xinhua) There are about 13 million abortions performed every year in China and inadequate knowledge about contraception among women is blamed for this high rate of pregnancy terminations, the China Daily reported Thursday.
Nearly half of the women who had abortions had not used any form of contraception, Wu Shangchun, divisional director of China’s National Population and Family Planning Commission’s technology research centre, was quoted as saying by the newspaper.

According to Wu, the real number of abortions done every year would be much higher than the figure reported, as many abortions are performed in unregistered clinics.

“The challenge of reducing (the number) of women seeking abortions in China is tough,” Wu said, indirectly referring to the country’s strict family planning rules.

The report said around 62 percent of the women undergoing abortions were single and aged between 20 and 29 years old.

This shows that most of the young single women don’t want to become mother and instead go for abortions in China where there are 20 million births each year.

Many pregnant women who have had their full quota of children also have abortions to prevent unwanted births.

The newspaper cited a survey done by a Shanghai-based army hospital which found that more than 70 percent of women who called to the hospital hotline number didn’t know how sexual transmission causes HIV/AIDS.

Only 30 percent of callers knew how to avoid pregnancy, and only 17 percent were aware of venereal diseases.

Researchers say that the inadequate knowledge about sexual health leads to high number of abortions and other birth-related complications.

“Sex education needs to be strengthened, with universities and our society giving more guidance,” Li Ying, a professor at Peking University, told the newspaper.

“Chinese parents are reluctant to teach their children about sex, so more needs to be done on sex education,” Li added.