Beijing Wives to be equipped with 'condom cards'
( 2003-12-21 09:09) (Agencies)
Beijing authorities plan to issue
special cards to married women that will allow them to get condoms for free
from vending machines placed throughout the city.
A
Chinese woman reads leaflet on AIDS behind a blown up condom during
an AIDS awareness event at Tsinghua University in Beijing November 29,
2003. [Files/Reuters] | The machines, which will
begin operating next month, will initially appear at 100 different locations in
the city of 13 million people, the Beijing Times reported.
At the start of the pilot project, 60,000 married women will be issued with
cards that entitle them to 12 packs of condoms a year.
The machines will help remove the awkwardness women feel when buying condoms
from salespeople, the paper said.
Birth control is a top government priority in China and urban couples are
usually restricted to having just one child, facing certain penalties if they
decide to have a second baby.
|
