More and more couples in the southern city of Guangzhou are being forced to have test-tube babies because their mothers were rendered sterile by earlier abortions.

Sunday's Information Times reports more than 5,000 test-tube babies were born this year, nearly twice as much as last year. But up to 60 percent of the babies were born to mothers who were sterile as a result of earlier abortions.

Medical experts are quoted as saying that women who have had several abortions are three times more likely to become sterile than women who have never had the procedure.

Statistics from Guangzhou's hospitals reveal more than half the women who receive abortions are unmarried, with the youngest only 14 years old.

The doctors say they are worried liberal attitudes towards casual sex will create even more sterile women.

(CRI December 25, 2006)