Premarital Abortion among Female Migrants in China: Modes of Parental Influence

• In Event: 381 - Section on the Sociology of the Family Refereed Roundtable Session and Business Meeting
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 01. Parenthood

Abstract

Guided by existing theoretical frameworks which accentuate the importance of economic, familial and relational factors in shaping fertility-related decisions of young women, this paper aims at understanding the premarital abortion experiences among young female migrants in China. Focusing on the relationship between parents and daughter’s abortion decision, the author argues that parental influence is one of the factors that shaping the abortion decision of unmarried female migrants in China. The paper reveals and examines the role played by parents and parent-daughter interactions during the process of abortion decision-making based on ethnographic observations and in-depth interviews with 30 (n=30) young women who have experienced at least one premarital abortion, in a city in Shandong, China. As reflected by the data, parental involvements are mediated by parents’ expectations on their daughter’s future husband, marriage and family life, which are often shaped by pragmatic living ideals constituted under the current socio-economic structure. Three modes of parental influences are classified, reflecting various degrees of parental control and daughter’s autonomy exercised in the course of abortion decision-making. The findings echo and enrich the existing theoretical discussion by identifying different types of parental influence on young women’s abortion decision and delineating their respective mechanisms. It also exposes the complexity and dynamics of young adult’s decision-making regarding marriage and reproduction in a society where the link between family, marriage and childbearing is still rigid.

Author

• Yuen Shan Lai, The Chinese University of Hong Kong