China set to discourage abortions

China’s National Health Commission says it will take steps to reduce the number of abortions, in Beijing’s latest attempt to tackle low birth rates and stagnant population growth.

According to new guidelines published on the state-run commission’s website, officials plan to offer incentives to encourage family growth, including expanding access to childcare services, reducing the cost of attending preschool, and working with employers to make offices more ‘‘family-friendly’’.

The government has also vowed to make fertility treatment more widely available to married women, by including reproductive technology in the national medical system.

China is grappling with a demographic downturn – a hangover from the country’s ‘‘one child policy’’. which from 1979 to 2015 was used to slash birth rates while the country was experiencing a population boom. Abortion, which is legal in China, played a role in adherence to the policy.

According to sexual health NGO the Guttmacher Institute, China has one of the world’s highest rates of abortion. About 78% of unintended pregnancies in China end in abortion, while the global average is 61%.

– Washington Post