World Population Day Themed Adolescent Pregnancy

　　Today is the World Population Day. The theme of this year's World Population Day is Adolescent Pregnancy¹. Experts point out that more effective sex education and tolerance² is key to keeping adolescents away from the threat of accidental pregnancy. Li Dong has more.

 

　　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 abortions⁴.

 

　　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 violations⁵ including child marriage, inadequate⁶ education or sexual coercion⁷.

 

　　Teen pregnancies⁸ 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 maternal⁹ complications that even include death and disability. The abortion³ 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 incapable¹⁰ 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 awareness¹¹, 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 Federation¹² 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 delve¹³ into the issue in greater detail.

 

　　For CRI, I am Li Dong.

1 pregnancy   

n.怀孕，怀孕期

参考例句：

• Early pregnancy is often accompanied by nausea.怀孕早期常有恶心的现象。
• Smoking during pregnancy increases the risk of miscarriage.怀孕期吸烟会增加流产的危险。

2 tolerance   

n.宽容；容忍，忍受；耐药力；公差

参考例句：

• Tolerance is one of his strengths.宽容是他的一个优点。
• Human beings have limited tolerance of noise.人类对噪音的忍耐力有限。

3 abortion   

n.流产，堕胎

参考例句：

• She had an abortion at the women's health clinic.她在妇女保健医院做了流产手术。
• A number of considerations have led her to have a wilful abortion.多种考虑使她执意堕胎。

4 abortions   

n.小产( abortion的名词复数 )；小产胎儿；（计划）等中止或夭折；败育

参考例句：

• The Venerable Master: By not having abortions, by not killing living beings. 上人：不堕胎、不杀生。 来自互联网
• Conclusion Chromosome abnormality is one of the causes of spontaneous abortions. 结论：染色体异常是导致反复自然流产的原因之一。 来自互联网

5 violations   

违反( violation的名词复数 )； 冒犯； 违反（行为、事例）； 强奸

参考例句：

• This is one of the commonest traffic violations. 这是常见的违反交通规则之例。
• These violations of the code must cease forthwith. 这些违犯法规的行为必须立即停止。

6 inadequate   

adj.(for,to)不充足的，不适当的

参考例句：

• The supply is inadequate to meet the demand.供不应求。
• She was inadequate to the demands that were made on her.她还无力满足对她提出的各项要求。

7 coercion   

n.强制，高压统治

参考例句：

• Neither trickery nor coercion is used to secure confessions.既不诱供也不逼供。
• He paid the money under coercion.他被迫付钱。

8 pregnancies   

怀孕，妊娠( pregnancy的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Since the wartime population needed replenishment, pregnancies were a good sign. 最后一桩倒不失为好现象，战时人口正该补充。
• She's had three pregnancies in four years. 她在四年中怀孕叁次。

9 maternal   

adj.母亲的，母亲般的，母系的，母方的

参考例句：

• He is my maternal uncle.他是我舅舅。
• The sight of the hopeless little boy aroused her maternal instincts.那个绝望的小男孩的模样唤起了她的母性。

10 incapable   

adj.无能力的，不能做某事的

参考例句：

• He would be incapable of committing such a cruel deed.他不会做出这么残忍的事。
• Computers are incapable of creative thought.计算机不会创造性地思维。

11 awareness   

n.意识，觉悟，懂事，明智

参考例句：

• There is a general awareness that smoking is harmful.人们普遍认识到吸烟有害健康。
• Environmental awareness has increased over the years.这些年来人们的环境意识增强了。

12 federation   

n.同盟，联邦，联合，联盟，联合会

参考例句：

• It is a federation of 10 regional unions.它是由十个地方工会结合成的联合会。
• Mr.Putin was inaugurated as the President of the Russian Federation.普京正式就任俄罗斯联邦总统。

13 delve   

v.深入探究，钻研

参考例句：

• We should not delve too deeply into this painful matter.我们不应该过分深究这件痛苦的事。
• We need to delve more deeply into these questions.这些是我们想进一步了解的。