Pain-free childbirth to be promoted

China will launch a pilot program aimed at getting more women to give birth naturally with painkillers to reduce the frequency of C-sections.

The National Health Commission said on Tuesday night it will select a number of hospitals across the country for the program, which will last until the end of 2020.

The country's lack of pain-free natural labor was brought into the spotlight in August last year, when a 26-year-old pregnant woman, Ma Rongrong, who was a week from her due date, jumped from the fifth floor of an inpatient building at First Hospital of Yulin in Shaanxi province, partly because she was in unbearable pain.