This figure has been haunting me ever since I first read about it some months ago.
I just don’t know where to start. I am not some pro-lifer but hell, half a million people.
It goes a long way to explain the promiscuity that one can infer from observation and the low birth rate. But it is really a disturbing figure. It haunts the grey drudgery of normal everydayness.
http://kerrycollison.blogspot.com/2011/07/taiwans-astonishing-abortion-rate.html?m=1
I’m pro-choice for society, pro-life in my own family. But I agree—it’s a bloody high number. Why does it surprise you though? Taiwan, like most developed countries, is a throw away society. Enjoyment is paramount to personal responsibility and the quick fix is the key.
It doesn’t surprise me - it makes awful sense. I am shocked. It’s a terrible reality I haddn’t figured on - didnt know how far we’d go for convenience, conformity (fear) and personal freedom. I have to admit perhaps being part of it (although it’s been a while…) Didn’t realise it was going on so widely.
I think it’s down to a widely-held belief that the contraceptive pill is poison and will give you instant cancer or make you permanently infertile. Whatever the pros and cons of other methods, the fact is that the pill is almost 100% effective and probably one of the safest drugs known (especially the progestin-only type), if used properly. I suspect that attitude, in turn, is down to an ageing population of doctors with questionable qualifications who are/were largely familiar only with first generation pills and never bothered to keep up with the state of the art.
Funnily enough, people don’t seem too bothered about industrial pollutants in their food or drinking water than are guaranteed to cause cancer, infertility, etc etc. And while pharmacists will talk in hushed tones and advise a girl not to use dangerous contraceptive drugs, mifepristone is available on demand from any obstetrician, no (or few) questions asked.
Well, it’s a lot better than the alternative of an extra 500,000 unwanted kids growing up in this overcrowded polluted little island.
I somewhat agree. It’d be a terrible shame to have so many unwanted, unloved children. But at the same time, that’s 500,000 lives just being disposed of because they’re inconvenient for the irresponsible little snots that didn’t think about the potential ramifications of their selfish actions.
It shows that the marketing dept. of condom manufacturers do a bad job … oh, and the DOH too … 
A disproportionate number are female.
I somewhat agree. It’d be a terrible shame to have so many unwanted, unloved children. But at the same time, that’s 500,000 lives just being disposed of because they’re inconvenient for the irresponsible little snots that didn’t think about the potential ramifications of their selfish actions.[/quote]
precisely
Are early abortions really a loss of lives? not really. Potential lives, perhaps. But not independent lives, and that’s the point.
Now in terms of girls being aborted more than boy babies, Taiwan is not so bad, in comparison with some other places. China is far and away the world leader on sex-ratio manipulation, mostly by feticide (including very late stage abortions) but also by infanticide (often through neglect and starvation). India is rapidly catching up. Of course the tendency is worst in countries where the male is traditionally important in family succession, etc, but it is also becoming more common in places across europe (admittedly, often the work of enclaves of cultural minorities like Chinese, Indian and Arabs).
Read this very well researched and supported article in the New Atlantis for more.
For some reason girls in this country really really hate getting on the pill, despite the large risk of pregnancy that happens from unprotected sex with boyfriends. Also the fact that women in this country don’t really want to bear a child hasn’t really helped with the birthrate either. Shit I know women in their 30s who are still finding “mr right,” back home I know 18 year olds becoming mothers and fathers ><
this is really frowned upon by the middle classes in the UK. I’ve totally changed my mind on it. We need young parents, for one. Also, why shouldn’t girls have babies? It’s natural, it’s beautiful and it can help people by happy and grounded. Not saying its a cure all or anything. But it is way better than sleeping around not admitting to the consequences, especially considering the alternatives.
The only reason why the abortion rate is high is because they don’t use birth control or condoms as much as other countries. If the same happened back home I’m sure the abortion rate will be even higher. What I don’t get is that when babies here die of natural causes (while still in the womb) they are very upset and have funerals etc.I guess it’s between wanting it and not wanting it that makes them cry about deaths in the womb.
this is really frowned upon by the middle classes in the UK. I’ve totally changed my mind on it. We need young parents, for one. Also, why shouldn’t girls have babies? It’s natural, it’s beautiful and it can help people by happy and grounded.[/quote]
Obviously not a parent.
that number is sickening…
That number is probably also a wild ass guess.
From the article:
“The most recent official data on abortion numbers is over a decade old. In 1999, 42,282 legal abortions were performed compared to 283,661 births. In the absence of authoritative statistics, what’s left is anecdotal evidence and assumptions of those who work or do research in the field.”
Maybe if you take total sales of morning-after pills and assume that each pill aborted a viable fetus, you come up with this huge number.
I don’t believe it.
There does seem to be quite a lot of hand-waving in the article, but abortion is undoubtedly the “contraception” method of choice in Taiwan. People are quite open about it. Over a lunchtime conversation with the (female) manager at our factory, she casually mentioned that pretty much every girl in the office had had an induced abortion at some point.
You’ll notice in that article that not one of the so-called experts consulted made any vociferous statement in favour of promoting standard contraception methods - just the usual bollocks about how the government needs to compel people to have more kids.
this is really frowned upon by the middle classes in the UK. I’ve totally changed my mind on it. We need young parents, for one. Also, why shouldn’t girls have babies? It’s natural, it’s beautiful and it can help people by happy and grounded.[/quote]
Obviously not a parent.[/quote]
Why is that, jabone? I’m sure if I weren’t a parent, I’d be a snarky, inconsiderate foulmouthed bastard.
[quote]
Why is that, jabone? I’m sure if I weren’t a parent, I’d be a snarky, inconsiderate foulmouthed bastard.[/quote]
hang on, is this some kind of beat on the childless day or what?
[quote=“urodacus”][quote]
Why is that, jabone? I’m sure if I weren’t a parent, I’d be a snarky, inconsiderate foulmouthed bastard.[/quote]
hang on, is this some kind of beat on the childless day or what?[/quote]
No one said you were foulmouthed.