Women in south China's Dongguan City were shocked to see details of their birth control methods posted on a notice board at the entrance to their village committee office.

Women in south China's Dongguan City were shocked to see details of their birth control methods posted on a notice board at the entrance to their village committee office.[File photo]

"Our names, ID numbers, home addresses, and our methods of birth control were all published. They don't pay respect to our privacy," a villager surnamed Xiang from Hengli Village told the Southern Metropolis Daily.

The notices contain the names of the married women in the village and their husbands, their ID numbers, their addresses and how many children they have.

One column lists the villagers' birth control methods, the newspaper said.

Some were said to be using condoms, others intrauterine contraceptive devices, while it was easy to see which men had had a vasectomy and which women had been sterilized. The list was also published online.

In response to complaints, local village committee officials told the newspaper they published the details to help them carry out family planning work and make it easier for other villagers to see whether there were any violations of the country's one-child policy.

"Some birth control methods involving surgeries may charge medical expense and the villagers can apply for medical reimbursements," a committee official told the newspaper. "We published their information to ensure work transparency."

The official admitted they hadn't given much thought to the security of personal information, but promised they would not publish the villagers' ID numbers "next time."

The notices were removed on Monday afternoon after the incident attracted media attention, the newspaper said.

Dongguan family planning authorities told the newspaper the publication of birth control information had been the practice for a number of years.

Under local regulations, villagers share in an annual bonus from the local government, with the amount linked to their birth control status. "Whether there are violations against the one-child policy or whether the violators paid fines for breaking the rule are all linked to how much share the villagers would get," an official said.

"It is indeed inappropriate for some village committee to directly publish villagers' ID cards and their birth control methods," the official said.

However, the authorities told the newspaper that they were now working on new rules to regulate the publication of contraception information.

Anger at birth control privacy made public