[...] in to Morning News Live this Wednesday August 26 at 9:30am EST. Jeanne and I will discuss the abortion ad and related issues. Plus our weekly segment “What Are Crazy People Saying About Barack [...]

One of my daughters was born in Chongqing. Glad her birth mother did not get an abortion.

I’m not offended at all. This sounds like a good policy to me, I wish abortions were more affordable here in the US. No one should ever decide to have a baby just because they can’t afford an abortion. In my state, the state children’s health insurance program will pay for abortions for women who meet income requirements, but you have to wait 2-4 weeks to be approved. The limit for abortion here is 12 weeks, so depending on when the woman finds out she is pregnant, many would be past the first trimester if they waited for the coverage. Kind of sounds like you are just trying to fan the flames of the abortion debate.

Make sense to me too. I don’t think their advertising crosses any line. It’s factual and blunt.

I live in China and ads like this aren’t unusual, and while I found them blunt at first, I think there’s a point. Students don’t usually have access to a lot of money many are too ashamed to go to their parents for help if they find themselves with an unplanned pregnancy. Single motherhood is not really a viable option for most Chinese women, and there have been high profile cases recently of students having babies in their dorm rooms and then dumping them, never telling anyone they were pregnant. China isn’t America, where there are programs to keep pregnant teens in school, WIC, welfare, parental support, and well, options.

In the cultural context, these sorts of ads actually provide a pretty worthwhile service for girls who might find themselves in trouble. If a half priced abortion keeps a baby from winding up dead in a dumpster, that’s alright by me.

Thanks for all of your comments. I actually agree with them. I’m not offended per se, but I think that abortion is a serious procedure that should be treated seriously. The one person that I’ve ever spoken to right after having one said that she felt horrible. This ad, at least as presented in the translation, makes it sound like clipping a nose hair. I freely admit that I have no way of knowing how the ad fits into Chinese culture, which of course is a factor. I think, upon further reflection, that it isn’t the pricing but the way it’s advertised.

Oh! And the procedure may actually be less invasive than the standard American vacuum aspiration that’s done in the 1st trimester. I think China makes much more use of the manual vacuum aspiration (MVA) procedure than we do here… MVAs can be done earlier in pregnancy than a standard VA, and they use a single flexible cannula and a hand-pump syringe to create the suction. I’m told that an MVA done early causes a lot less cramping and bleeding than what most American women have experienced during their VA, where you’ve got later gestation plus the cervical stretching with metal dilators and/or seaweed sticks beforehand. Can’t compare myself because I’ve not had either procedure, but maybe that’s a factor in the way the advert is worded.

I don’t see why it’s any different than LASIK eye surgery providers competing by advertising their prices.

Women can (and do) have psychological effects after childbirth and as a result of parenting or adopting out a child as well. I am not Chinese and have minimal acquaintance with Chinese cultures, but what I hear through the grapevine makes it sound like a quick abortion is less likely to leave permanent psychological scars than the stigma of single or out-of-wedlock motherhood OR abandoning a child in the hope that it will be adopted. Like you, I don’t know – and there’s no way I can speak for all women in all situations. But all in all, I do think the ad is doing what it can to simultaneously advertise a medical service (made affordable for students – not necessarily youth, but students) and allay fears about the abortion process. I don’t know anything about the quantity or quality of pre-procedure counseling women get throughout China, or what support is available to those who do struggle emotionally with the experience afterwards. I also don’t know what kind of counseling and support is available for women who bear a child and then raise or relinquish him/her.

Another factor, which may be culturally blind to you and me and other Americans, is the social role of “student”. I’m feeling like being a student in China may be a heavier responsibility than being a student in the US (and I’m thinking college/university student here, not high school). Being a female student may carry additional weight than being a male student. I hope others with more knowledge will weigh in on that aspect, cuz I am ignorant.

I worked for a couple of months in a Chinese Ob/gyn clinic two years ago. I can report that the attitudes towards abortion and women’s experience of abortion appeared much different than what I’ve seen in the USA. It was all much less emotionally loaded. Health care providers viewed it as a very routine procedure. I never encountered a provider who opted out of doing them (there are a ton in the States), and when I asked about this they seemed to find the idea almost silly. Some were frustrated that more women didn’t use contraception and would request repeat abortions–not because this was morally wrong but because it was a waste of resources and increased the risks to the women. I never saw a patient who appeared conflicted about the choice she was making (though a few were sad). I never saw a patient at a followup who expressed any regrets. They were generally tremendously relieved (to be avoiding stigma/shame/debts/fines) but not especially grateful because they viewed abortion as their right and a routine thing. Occasionally someone–always an “older” married woman, often with one daughter already–would express mild regret about not having the money to pay the fines for having a second child. We did manual aspirations, vacuum aspirations, and also a lot of medical abortions (i.e. abortions using drugs).

“I could also question why you need a student ID. That means the discount isn’t based on age, it’s based on whether or not you are in school. If you’re not a student, you have to pay more?”

Um, yes Brett. That’s the general idea behind a student discount.

Alicia is right – a student discount is for students of any age. The same applies here. If a museum, for example, gives discounts to students, no matter what their age. (My husband went back for his graduate degree, part-time. He was in his late 30′s, but was able to get student discounts everywhere.)

I don’t know why “half price abortions if you show your student ID” crosses any line. If you think abortion is murder (I do), then its murder at any price. If you think abortion is a medical procedure that a woman can choose to have, then its a medical procedure at half price. I don’t know what line that crosses. After the comments of the above pro-choicers, it seems as you’ve unified the pro-lifers and pro-choicers on that question.

Should be 2 for the price of 1 could bring my sister !!!!!!!!

I’d agree with esther and add to it – the anti-abortion crowd has also made a very big deal out of the idea that teens are being taken advantage of when they’re offered abortions. There’s a big push to give parents more rights over their children’s healthcare, including their OB/GYN care. The problem is that many teens don’t get on birth control – and end up with unwanted pregnancies – because they are so deathly afraid of their parents finding out about their pre-marital sex.

Although parents should take a VERY active role in talking with their kids about sex, it needs to be in an advisory role rather than an iron-fisted preaching context.

I mentioned this to my friends and only the very religious and Republicans found it disturbing. None found it offensive since it was not personal. In order to be offended one must feel personally attacked. Low cost abortions save lives in China. The lives of young women who may commit suicide over the shame of out of wedlock pregnancy and the lives of children born unwanted. China is not the US get over it. Take your outrage back to your fundie church.

Americans Must try this! Every huge meat eating American born dmages the environment considerably more than a vegan Asian, and the Asians are doing their part! Come on America! Your turn!