Türkiye Biyoetik Dergisi, 2015 Vol. 2, No. 1, 73-81 Nie JB © 2015, Türkiye Biyoetik Derneği Turkish Bioethics Association | 73 Vaka Analizi/Case Analysis Tormented by Competing Moral Duties: A “Lost” Chinese Abortion Doctor Çatışan ahlaki ödevlerin eziyeti: “Yitik” Çinli kürtaj doktoru Jing-Bao NIE * Dr. Zhang Fengmei is one such medical professional. As a part of my fieldwork on Chinese views and experiences of abortion in the context of China’s birth control program, I interviewed Dr. Zhang, an OB/GYN physician, medical researcher and administrator. Our conversation lasted more than three hours. This article recounts our interview, with most parts narrated in her own words. Abstract Since the late 1970s and early 1980s, China has been carrying out the world’s most ambitious and intrusive population control program, widely known as “one-child” policy and officially rendered as “family planning”. The active participation of numerous medical professionals including physicians and nurses is essential for the effective implementation of the social policy. This paper presents case study narratives of a Chinese “family planning” physician. In her narratives, Dr. Zhang described herself as being “totally lost”, due to witnessing so much suffering in her patients in her clinical work; holding serious reservations on the population control measures employed such as late and coerced abortions (despite never questioning the necessity of population control in China and the national program); and feeling deep sentiment toward the aborted fetuses (or babies, in her words). She was torn by compelling but competing moral duties: her duty to her patients as a physician; her duty to her country as a citizen as well as a Party member and leader; and her duty to the fetuses or the unborn human life as a mother herself and a human being. Key words: Abortion, population control, china’s one-child policy, professional ethics of medicine, fetal life, moral duties Introduction To effectively implement the world’s most ambitious and intrusive population control program, widely known as “one-child” policy and officially rendered as “family planning”, a family planning sub-profession in medicine and a nation-wide network of local family planning service stations have long been established in China. So have the national and provincial institutes for family planning research. Numerous medical professionals have actively participated in providing “family planning” services. Without their participation, China’s population control policy could never have been so successful. In most cases, they provide services that people need. In other cases, they also participate in carrying out coerced and often late abortions and forced sterilization. 1 Dr. Zhang had practiced medicine for more than twenty years, and had become a Party member when she was a medical student. She first worked at a small clinic of maternal and infant care and was later transferred to the Institute for Family Planning Research. At the time of our interview, she had recently been promoted as Director of the Institute. She saw patients every day to provide medical services related * Bioethics Center, University of Otago, New Zealand  jing-bao.nie@otago.ac.nz 1 Jing-Bao Nie (2005) Behind the Silence: Chinese Voices on Abortion. Lanham and Oxford: Rowman & Littlefield. Chapter 5, “Bitterness beyond Words: Women’s Narratives”, repots the personal experience and stories of over thirty Chinese women who had one or more abortions. Chapters 6, “Fulfilling Discordant Duties: Doctor’s Narratives”, presents the views and experience of more than thirty physicians who had routinely performed abortion. This paper is based on the material from one section of Chapter 6 (pp. 177-186), but significantly expanded.