Hong Kong should focus on sex education as a matter of good health.
The
public is up in arms about mainland mothers giving birth here, but is
largely oblivious to a flood of
young Hong Kong women and
girls
travelling across the border for the
termination of unwanted
pregnancies
in substandard conditions. That
unawareness is reflected in the
relative indifference to the recent closure of
Hong Kong Central
Hospital, which performed an estimated 40 per cent of the
city's
clinical abortions.
The demand for
terminations highlights a lack of
sex information and
education at
home and
school. In our conservative
society,
sex remains
an awkward
subject.
Young people are often left to learn by themselves.
Sadly, for many, this leads ultimately to
hospitals over the border for
affordable or discreet
terminations, with a higher risk of
infection,
infertility, trauma and
post-abortion e
motional stress without
psychological support. The reasons include our
public hospitals' strict
criteria and reluctance to provide
abortions, high prices at private
hospitals and the
Family Planning Association's restriction of
abortions
to early-term
pregnancies.
A drop of nearly 50 per cent in
legal terminations in the decade to
2010 does reflect better
awareness of contraception as well as the
growing cross-border trade and resort to backyard
clinics. However, a
study commissioned by
Mother's Choice, a
non-
government support
organisation for
pregnant girls, indicates that about 7,000, mostly from
poor or broken
families, face "
crisis" pregnancies every year.
Ignorance of
sex issues is major factor, due to a lack of
communication
at
home, reticence among
teachers and a not-very-useful
clinical hour of
secondary school sex education. This leaves
students to learn from each
other and the
internet. One of the many misconceptions unearthed by the
Mother's Choice
study was that
girls cannot become
pregnant from
having
sex for the first time.
Moral and
sex education is ultimately the prerogative of
parents. But
lack of
information leading to unwanted
pregnancies can also have
serious
educational,
health and
financial consequences. Given
Hong
Kong's social conservatism,
New York's answer - handing out
contraceptives in public
schools - is not an option. The
government and
non-government organisations should co-ordinate a campaign to promote
the benefits of proper
education at
home and at
school on
healthy sex
practices.