ABSTRACT Existing research on abortion in China has predominantly focused on its relationship with state intervention and reproductive control, framing abortion as a component of China’s evolving demographic and birth control policies. This article, however, argues that in the context of trials concerning single women’s abortion, issues of morality and sexuality were the central concerns for the parties involved. Young women, their lovers, and families often sought abortions to conceal instances of premarital sex, crafting narratives in court to safeguard familial reputation. Meanwhile, police and judges treated adultery as a basis for criminal conviction and imposing penalties. Drawing on case files from 1940s Shanghai, including police reports and trial records, this article examines single women’s experiences of abortion and the subsequent legal proceedings. Although the criminalisation of abortion in 1911 redefined the legal relationship between mother and foetus, participants in abortion trials continued to frame the practice through the lens of morally acceptable sexuality. In a period when the emerging nation-state was profoundly reshaping gender roles and moral codes, the heteronormative family persisted as the sole socially acceptable context for women’s sexual activity.
Read full abstract