A few days before the end of 2025, we can already see a glimpse of what awaits us in 2026. One of them comes to us in particular from China, where the new year will bring with it a VAT increase of 13% to products such as condoms or birth control pills. Articles which, until now, were tax-exempt since 1993.
The reason given for this measure leaves no doubt, because it was openly published: increase the birth rate. The Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress approved this tax reform in 2024 which will impose this rate from 2026 in a sort of attempt to reverse demographic decline. However, what was presented as an economic policy is in reality a direct intervention on the body and the reproductive decisions of the population. And especially women.
The first worrying problem is obvious: sex is not just reproductive. Condoms are neither a luxury nor a whimbut the most effective barrier method to prevent STIs (sexually transmitted infections). Taxing their access implies relegating public health to second place and therefore assuming that infections are acceptable collateral damage. This is not only an irresponsible, but also a regressive approach.
This form of economic pressure affects women unequally and particularly affects women. We are the ones who suffer the most from consequences of sexually transmitted diseases and those of us who historically bear responsibility for contraception. Making prevention methods more expensive increases the burden on our bodies, which reinforces a structural inequality that already exists.
Additionally, this policy functions as forced maternity cover. The likelihood that unwanted pregnancies will increase is real, particularly among people with fewer resources, who will see their access to contraceptive methods even more limited. ““The poorest have children, which increases their poverty.”they commented on social networks under the publication of one of the media which echoed the news.
Added to this is the increase stigma against women who do not want to lead a traditional family life and want another type of future, other vital projects. In a country which has experienced a demographic decline for three consecutive years and where the number of marriages has recorded a historic minimum in 2024, the institutional response is blaming women instead of analyzing the real causes of the problem.
Because, in case there was any doubt, women are not a demographic resource in the service of the State. China is a member of the UN and is therefore subject to international treaties that guarantee human rights, including sexual and reproductive. Criminalizing access to contraceptives is a direct violation of these rights.
We must never think that, faced with an aging population and an insufficient workforce, the solution lies in put women as if they were reproductive machines, to make more babies. This concept comes dangerously close to a well-known fiction, The Handmaid’s Taleby Margaret Atwood.
China, like any other country wishing to increase its birth rate, should direct its efforts towards improve the quality of life of its citizens. Since the data indicates that the main problems of the decrease in births are job insecurity, the very high cost of living, the lack of conciliation policies, as well as the price of childcare and education.
Do you want more births? let them build an environment where women can choose to be mothersand not at the cost of controls disguised as public policies. This is not due to a lack of alternatives, economic sanctions, or restrictions on access to contraceptives. But because this is compatible with a dignified, autonomous and free life, because there is rights, care and material conditions who maintain freedom after this election.
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