IUDs taken out from millions of women in China

As China relaxed its decades old one child policy this year, millions of women are being helped by hospitals to remove intrauterine devices implanted to prevent child birth.

“About 3.5 million women had their intrauterine devices removed by local health authorities last year and more are expected to do so this year,” Song Li, deputy head of maternal and infant healthcare at the National Health and Family Planning Commission said.

This year health workers in China are expected to help at least 3.5 million women remove intrauterine devices following the implementation of the universal two-child policy this year, she was quoted as saying by state-run China Daily on Wednesday. 

Local health authorities will continue to provide such services for free during the 13th Five-Year Plan period (2016-20) to help couples have a second child, she said.

Eighteen million women who plan to have a second child need to have their intrauterine devices removed, and most will do so within the next three years, Song said.

But at the same time women who have delivered second child are approaching hospital to get the devices implanted to prevent further child births, the daily report said. China has been relaxing its family planning policy gradually in recent years, as it faces a declining fertility rate and an ageing population.