A deputy of the Beijing People’s Congress has proposed that public hospitals in the city offer free abortions to students. Wei Aimin, the deputy, who is also a lawyer, made the proposal in reaction to increasing cases of *underage pregnancies among students in schools. In order to keep their pregnancies from their schools and family members, many of these young girls get abortions at illegal or non-standard clinics where they receive insufficient care that may lead to *complications. Wei suggested that public hospitals should either perform the operations for free, or for a *nominal fee in order to make it easier for the girls to get the best medical help.