The State Policy and Women’s Choice between Long-acting and Short-acting Contraception, 1979 - 2012

• In Event: 231 - Section on Sociology of Population Refereed Roundtable Session and Business Meeting
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 06. Contraceptive Use, Fertility, and Union Formation: New Insights

Abstract

This study examines the relationship between China’s contraception policy and married women’s (20-49 years) choice between long-acting and short-acting contraceptive methods. Analyzing data from the 1988 and the 2006 National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Survey, we demonstrate a causal link between the stringency level of contraception policy and married women’s contraceptive choice via a permutation test: The more stringent the contraception policy was, the more likely married women used a long-acting contraceptive method. Using in-depth interviews, we further explain the efficacy of the contraception policy: when and how it worked to achieve China’s overall population goal and when and how it failed to convince every married woman to obey. This paper shows that China’s contraception policy promoted long-acting contraceptive methods whereas many married women themselves preferred short-acting contraceptive methods. We discuss the interplay between the two sides as an issue of collective action where the policy is set up to obtain maximal program participation with minimal free riding.

Authors

• Tim Futing Liao, University of Illinois

• Cuntong Wang, Central University of Finance and Economics