Unfortunately that headline isn’t a joke. A nine-year-old girl from the Chinese city of Songyuan gave birth to a healthy 6 lb baby boy on January 27 in a hospital in Changchun via Caesarian section. The identity of the girl has not been made public and police are currently trying to establish the identity of the father. In the province, it is illegal to have sex with a child under the age of 14.
The rate of pregnancies in school-aged children in China is increasing—one hospital in Shanghai reports that about 30 percent of their abortions were performed on schoolgirls. Last year, a clinic in the city of Chongqing came under fire for advertising half-price abortions for any girl with a student ID card.
Critics put the blame for the rise in pregnancies on China’s recently launched nationwide effort to “maintain the innocence of children” without teaching proper sex education. The government’s mandates include banning sexual content from the internet and suspending or expelling students if they are “suspected” of engaging in sexual activity.
