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Young unmarried migrant women are facing a high risk of induced abortions in China and experts urged that they have better access to reproductive health education.

Based on a recent nationwide survey, among the 8 to 10 million induced abortions performed on the mainland each year, nearly 47 percent involve unmarried women younger than 25, according to Cheng Linan, director of the center for clinical research and training of the Shanghai Institute of Planned Parenthood Research.

"The rising trend of induced abortions is even more evident among migrants who usually have poor awareness and access to reproductive health knowledge and services, particularly about contraception," she said on Saturday at an event to mark World Contraceptive Day, which falls on Sept 26.

A 2008 survey involving more than 50,000 induced abortions in Beijing showed that roughly 70 percent of the women undergoing the procedure were migrants. For many, it was not their first abortion.

According to a nationwide study by the Chinese Medical Association (CMA), of all women having received induced abortions, nearly 56 percent had two operations and 13.5 percent had three or more.

Among Chinese women who became infertile, more than 88 percent previously had an induced abortion, a study conducted in 2007 showed.

Other potential health hazards include hemorrhage, uterine or pelvic infection, uterine perforation and cervical laceration.

A 2011 survey by the CMA found that about 44 percent of those polled said they had difficulty accessing scientifically correct contraceptive information, compared with a global average of 15.5 percent.

As with most Asians, the biggest obstacle for the Chinese to obtain such knowledge is that they are shy talking about sex in public and don't usually have sex education in school, said Qin Guoying, secretary-general of the China Women's Development Foundation.

To address the issue, the foundation formed an alliance with the CMA, with funding support from Germany-based pharmaceutical company Bayer, to pilot post-abortion care (PAC) in China.

PAC is a worldwide strategy to address abortion problems by treating women with complications and providing family planning knowledge to prevent future abortions.

As of 2001, more than 40 countries worldwide were using PAC, which has lowered repeated induced abortions by 25 to 50 percent, international studies show.

（中國日報網英語點津 Helen 編輯）

About the broadcaster:

?Christine Mallari is an intern at China Daily. She was born in Chicago, Illinois and raised in a nearby suburb before moving for college. After recently graduating from the University of Iowa with a degree in English, Journalism and Mass Communications, she moved to Beijing to work with China Daily. Though she has been working in journalism since high school, this is her first time doing so abroad.