Each year, as soon as the nation's youth begin to go back to school at the end of summer, one question instantly pops up in the minds of many people. Will the same nightmare of teenage abortions repeat itself again? Around this time of year, a large number of teenage girls pack abortion clinics to have abortions.
Officials from the Department of Health (DOH) routinely deny that a large number of abortions take place around this time of year. They are quick to indicate that the phenomenon is sensationalized by the media. They insist that there is no clear evidence to back up the story that every year in September, October and November there is a significant rise in abortion figures.
However, as Taipei Times reporter Emily Wu reported on Aug. 17, the latest abortion statistics released by the DOH was compiled in 1996. Some 300,000 legal abortions were performed that year. Without up-to-date information or statistics to back up its position, the DOH was apparently too hasty in discrediting the media's concern over the ever-worsening problem of teen abortion.
In addition to those 300,000 legal-abortion cases, feminist rights groups, such as The Garden of Hope Foundation and some social workers, have come up with a rough estimate of the number of illegal abortions performed annually. Their research estimates that there are around 200,000 illegal abortions per year, with around 10,000 of those believed to be performed on school-age girls.
But some academics believe that figure is much higher. They point out that Neichiang Street in Taipei's Wanhua District and the neighborhood around the Nanchi Industrial Processing Park in Kaohsiung are both notorious spots for a large number of clinics offering illegal abortions. These two spots are in fact nicknamed Taiwan's "abortion streets"(
Illegal abortions are risky not only because these clinics offer shabby medical facilities, but also because the medical training of those who perform the operations is often questionable. According to social workers, the poor sanitation in these clinics is a constant threat to the patients. Even more outrageous is the fact that most of the people performing these fly-by-night operations are either retired physicians or midwives. The patients truly need God's mercy once they put themselves in the hands of these individuals.
By law, an abortion may not be performed if the mental or physical health of the mother and/or the child is at risk, and a written consent from the spouse of the pregnant woman is required. An unmarried female over the age of 18 is required to thave the presence of another adult to sign a consent form; those under the age of 18 have to obtain their parents' consent. Unfortunately, the general consensus among those who perform these abortions seems to be that enforcement of the law is nonexistent, as Wu pointed out in her report.
Nonetheless, dealing with an unwanted pregnancy is a highly private matter. Single women, school girls and their families often make hiding their pregnancy their top priority. Therefore, even though reputable hospitals offer good medical facilities, well-qualified doctors and reasonable charges of around NT$7,000 per operation, many Taiwanese females still prefer small clinics in dark street corners.
These small clinics usually never ask for name, ID or even a contact telephone number. No questions are asked, so long as the fee is paid. The only other requirement is the execution of a waiver of liability for the doctor in the event that something goes wrong.
Such practices give Taiwanese women a strong incentive to risk their own health for personal convenience. Naturally, most of these clinics expect no follow up visits from their patients once the business is done. Any medical problems derived from the operation afterwards are the patients' own responsibility. The patients would most likely seek bigger and more well-known hospitals for medical treatments if the situation gets out of hand.
As everyone knows, abortion can have devastating effects on a woman, both physically and psychologically. In fact, for many women, the real hassle starts only after the operation is over. The psychological trauma may turn out to be a bigger nightmare than the physical pain. Teenage girls are distinctively more vulnerable in this respect.
A very unique and prominent social phenomenon in Taiwan is parents' worship of the "baby spirit" (
Since no reliable statistics are available so far, the extent of physical and psychological damage done to Taiwanese women or even to their families is difficult to evaluate. It is vital the government make more of an effort to come up with sensible figures for policy analysis and formulation. In the meantime, what one should expect from the DOH at this stage is perhaps the implementation of a counseling system t0o deal first with thorny issues surrounding abortion.
Of all the social service agencies in the West that deal with problems caused by unauthorized abortions, the German model may serve as a model for Taiwan's troubles. German laws requires counseling for any pregnant woman before she makes a decision regarding abortion. The counseling is provided by one government-funded Pregnancy Conflict Counseling Offices operated by public social welfare organizations and religious groups.
Counseling offices accredited by the German state government make no value judgement and maintain patient confidentiality. Their professional counseling service often offers timely assistance to those disheartened and desperate young girls troubled by unwanted pregnancies. Those troubled youngsters can receive assistance in obtaining legal permission for abortion without exposing their identities. Since abortions can only be performed by experienced physicians, the patients are guaranteed the best medical service during and after the operation.
In the event that a decision is made to keep the child after counseling, the counseling offices offer help in obtaining financial aids and other assistance from a government-funded mother and child care foundation. These offices remove a tremendous amount of anxiety from pregnant teens who are probably trapped in a most vulnerable and confused mental state.
Women and girls in Taiwan with unwanted pregnancies could benefit a great deal from a similar social service system. A public office designed to protect their identities and specializing in providing professional counseling and assistance would be able to help these young women in a timely manner. Teens would be less likely to feel overwhelmed with desperation or to take the grave risk of going to a back alley clinic for help.
Facing the possiblity of an upsurge of teenage abortions each year, our society as a whole would be much better off if we could learn from the German experience and offer whatever we can to assist our youngsters. Hiding their heads in the sand the way the health officials have been doing will not make the problem go away. Effective measures must be quickly implemented, because just emphasizing condom use is hardly a well-thought-out way to combat illegal abortion.
Derek Lee is assistant editor in chief of Taipei Times.
In their recent op-ed “Trump Should Rein In Taiwan” in Foreign Policy magazine, Christopher Chivvis and Stephen Wertheim argued that the US should pressure President William Lai (賴清德) to “tone it down” to de-escalate tensions in the Taiwan Strait — as if Taiwan’s words are more of a threat to peace than Beijing’s actions. It is an old argument dressed up in new concern: that Washington must rein in Taipei to avoid war. However, this narrative gets it backward. Taiwan is not the problem; China is. Calls for a so-called “grand bargain” with Beijing — where the US pressures Taiwan into concessions
The term “assassin’s mace” originates from Chinese folklore, describing a concealed weapon used by a weaker hero to defeat a stronger adversary with an unexpected strike. In more general military parlance, the concept refers to an asymmetric capability that targets a critical vulnerability of an adversary. China has found its modern equivalent of the assassin’s mace with its high-altitude electromagnetic pulse (HEMP) weapons, which are nuclear warheads detonated at a high altitude, emitting intense electromagnetic radiation capable of disabling and destroying electronics. An assassin’s mace weapon possesses two essential characteristics: strategic surprise and the ability to neutralize a core dependency.
Chinese President and Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Chairman Xi Jinping (習近平) said in a politburo speech late last month that his party must protect the “bottom line” to prevent systemic threats. The tone of his address was grave, revealing deep anxieties about China’s current state of affairs. Essentially, what he worries most about is systemic threats to China’s normal development as a country. The US-China trade war has turned white hot: China’s export orders have plummeted, Chinese firms and enterprises are shutting up shop, and local debt risks are mounting daily, causing China’s economy to flag externally and hemorrhage internally. China’s
During the “426 rally” organized by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party under the slogan “fight green communism, resist dictatorship,” leaders from the two opposition parties framed it as a battle against an allegedly authoritarian administration led by President William Lai (賴清德). While criticism of the government can be a healthy expression of a vibrant, pluralistic society, and protests are quite common in Taiwan, the discourse of the 426 rally nonetheless betrayed troubling signs of collective amnesia. Specifically, the KMT, which imposed 38 years of martial law in Taiwan from 1949 to 1987, has never fully faced its
RSS