Family Planning Association of Hong Kong

Are illegal abortions in Hong Kong related to ‘class problem’?
High costs for private hospitals and stretched public health services blamed for women turning to black market or mainland to seek help over unwanted pregnancies

Saturday, 02 September, 2017

Increasing numbers of Hong Kong women are risking their lives by seeking illegal abortions at makeshift clinics in the city or on the mainland, an issue which a local lawmaker has condemned as a huge “class problem”.

Speaking to City Weekend after two women were jailed for carrying out illegal abortions in Hong Kong, Shiu Ka-chun, who represents the social welfare sector in the Legislative Council, said Hong Kong’s overburdened public hospitals meant not all pregnant women could get an abortion even if they were eligible. This forced them to resort to dangerous means out of desperation, he added.

Continued at source: South China Morning Post: http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/health-environment/article/2109340/are-illegal-abortions-hong-kong-related-class

by Justin Heifetz
Broadly
Nov 14 2016

Legal restrictions, overcrowded public hospitals, and steep private clinic prices often prevent young women in Hong Kong from terminating their pregnancies safely. For many, the only viable option is to cross the border into mainland China, where a host of other obstacles await them.

When Tina was 15 years old, she was on a break between classes at her high school in Hong Kong—just like any other day. As she sat with her friends at their desks, the skirt of her school uniform was suddenly drenched in blood. Her girlfriends pointed to the floor, where there was more blood under her seat. That morning, Tina had taken pills to terminate her second unwanted pregnancy—her boyfriend got them from an illegal clinic not far from her school. But no one told her what would happen next.

[continued at link]
Source: Broadly