The growing number of pregnant teenagers - once shunned because of the shame they brought to their families - are finding new avenues for professional help and advice.

The obstetric and Pediatric Hospital of Chengdu, capital of Sichuan Province, has launched a special service for pregnant teenagers, offering free abortions to girls under 18 years old.

"We have received 1,400 calls for help since the service hot line was set up. This is out of all expectation," said Chen Lili, service head nurse.

With the acceleration of China's opening, young people differ greatly from their parents in their opinions on sex. Parents traditionally preach caution or abstinence, but young people are being influenced by depictions of sex on television and the Internet.

As a result, unprotected sex among adolescents is becoming more common.

Chen said, "A huge number of pregnant girls call in for help, but very few come in because the law strictly requires underage girls seeking an abortion to be accompanied by a legal guardian. We did the operation for only three girls over the past fortnight."

She said Chinese are now more open about sex, but a teenage pregnancy remains a source of shame, causing girls to avoid having abortions because they risk enraging their parents by telling the truth.

Chongqing municipality in the southwest China, established the country's first help service on sexual matters for teenagers early this year. Confidentiality is the guiding principle of the agency where girls receive free birth control within one week of having sexual intercourse. If they are already pregnant, they are not condemned.

In its five months of operation, the agency has treated 200 pregnant girls, the youngest only 12. In 1998, unmarried girls who received abortions at the hospital accounted for 13 percent of the total, compared to 33.6 percent now.

Hu weiguang, professor at the Sichuan Academy of Social Sciences, said, "There is a gap between the more open-minded opinions on sex and the sex education provided to children through proper channels, which results in many girls becoming pregnant."

Boys and girls are becoming sexually mature as young as 12 or 13, and becoming sexually active earlier, leading to more teenage preg-nancies.

China has 200 million young people between 15 and 24, and each year 20 million young people enter adolescence, with their sexual maturity coming four or five years sooner than in the 1970s.

Liu hong, director of the Birth Control Institute of Chongqing, said unwanted pregnancies are extremely stressful and aid agencies like those in Chongqing and Chengdu will help teenagers cope both mentally and physically, and help avoid future trauma.

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