Youth debate highlights reproductive healthcare

University students took part in a debate contest on how to avoid unplanned pregnancy to mark the World Contraception Day, which falls on September 26, to educate young people on safe sex on Thursday.

The contest was organized by Life Times, one of China's major life and health print media and sponsored by German pharmaceutical and life sciences company Bayer AG.

The debate focused on who is responsible for unplanned pregnancy and debaters from Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications took the male side on why male conception is easier and more popular. Delegates from Beijing Normal University argued the female side on why taking oral contraceptive pills (OCPs) is safer than using condoms.

About 130 million abortions take place in China and over half of them are mothers under 25 and still on campus. A report on university sex health showed that 10.1 percent of those female students who have sex get pregnant and 3.2 percent get more than once; 11.8 percent of the male get their female partner pregnant; 7.8 percent of the female students get abortions more than three times.

Lack of consciousness and improper contraception are blamed for unplanned pregnancy and abortion on campus.

Zhang Suyun, former chief physician of Beijing Maternal and Child Health Care Hospital, said compound short-effect OCPs are easier, effective and safer way to protect from unplanned pregnancy while safety period and coitus interruptus are no guarantee. As a result, both of the two sides should have a part in protecting against unplanned pregnancy.