Book contents
- Reproductive Realities in Modern China
- Cambridge Studies in the History of the People’s Republic of China
- Reproductive Realities in Modern China
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Acknowledgments
- Note on the Text
- Introduction
- 1 Building a Fitter Nation: Eugenics, Birth Control, and Abortion in Public Discourse, 1911–1949
- 2 Birth Control in Practice
- 3 Reaping the Fruits of Women’s Labor: Birth Control in the Early PRC, 1949–1958
- 4 “Birth Planning Has Many Benefits”: Weaving Family Planning into the Fabric of Everyday Life, 1959–1965
- 5 Controlling Sex and Reproduction across the Urban–Rural Divide, 1966–1979
- 6 The Rise and Demise of the One Child Policy, 1979–2015
- Epilogue: Birth Control and Abortion in the Longue Durée, 1911–2021
- Appendix: Interviews
- Glossary
- References
- Index
2 - Birth Control in Practice
Emmenagogues, Contraceptives, and Abortions, 1911–1949
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 19 January 2023
- Reproductive Realities in Modern China
- Cambridge Studies in the History of the People’s Republic of China
- Reproductive Realities in Modern China
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Acknowledgments
- Note on the Text
- Introduction
- 1 Building a Fitter Nation: Eugenics, Birth Control, and Abortion in Public Discourse, 1911–1949
- 2 Birth Control in Practice
- 3 Reaping the Fruits of Women’s Labor: Birth Control in the Early PRC, 1949–1958
- 4 “Birth Planning Has Many Benefits”: Weaving Family Planning into the Fabric of Everyday Life, 1959–1965
- 5 Controlling Sex and Reproduction across the Urban–Rural Divide, 1966–1979
- 6 The Rise and Demise of the One Child Policy, 1979–2015
- Epilogue: Birth Control and Abortion in the Longue Durée, 1911–2021
- Appendix: Interviews
- Glossary
- References
- Index
Summary
Chapter 2 focuses on the praxis of birth control and abortion during the Republican era. Although sterilization and abortion were criminalized, contraception was neither explicitly endorsed nor banned. Yet, at times, local police cracked down on those who sold or consumed these products. In spite of the law, a wide range of contraceptive and abortive techniques were available to women in urban China. Grounded in folk practices, traditional Chinese healing, and Western medicine, abortion was the most prevalent form of fertility regulation that appeared in the historical record. Tiaojingyao – patent drugs and homemade herbal decoctions that blurred the line between abortifacients and emmenagogues designed to induce regular menses – were also particularly common, and by their nature, difficult to police.
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- Information
- Reproductive Realities in Modern ChinaBirth Control and Abortion, 1911–2021, pp. 44 - 72Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2023