But the religious practice is not about business. "We don't charge money to people younger than 18 or who have no money," Yang said. Liu says that he can barely cover the costs of running the shrine and any extra money goes to charities.
Yeh Chuen-rong (葉春榮), an associate research fellow at the Institute of Ethnology, Academia Sinica estimates that there are at least 10,000 private temples in Taiwan offering a variety of services to worshippers - though the number specifically providing fetus ghost pacification services is significantly less.
When asked if it was common for temples to start new services like this, he replied, "Yes, of course. They have to make a living, right? It's business."
One common feature of the people running these temples is to downplay the efficacy of other temples that provide the same services. "It's all about competition," Yeh said. "If it's an old shrine, for example 40 years old, they will have to know how to deal with new trends, like yingling. Otherwise they won't have any business."
When asked if the temples have the ability to placate the guilt of the young women who seek out their services, Yeh says it does. "It's just like a counseling business in the West."
Whereas the number of clients at Yang's temple is growing, Liu's temple reached the height of its popularity in the mid 1990s when it had around 1,000 customers. Today the number has dwindled to roughly 550.
"It's competition from other temples," Liu said. "Private temples see this as an untapped market for making money and have begun to provide similar services."
Chi Hui-jung (紀惠容), CEO of the non-profit Garden of Hope Foundation, which provides counseling services to pregnant woman, says that the guilt associated with abortions can have a lifelong effect on women.
Chi adds that yingling temples can provide comfort to young women who may be too afraid to tell their parents or too timid to seek the help of professional councilors. "In Taiwanese culture, we still don't have the habit of sharing feelings with other people - especially strangers." According to her, going to the temple is a part of Taiwanese traditional culture and is easier in the short term because the woman can alleviate some of her guilt.
Though Chi doesn't discourage young women from going to worship at a temple, she advises them to seek professional counseling.
It's not just women who use these services, though. Yang tells of a man in his 60s who arrived needing to appease a fetus ghost.
"He was a playboy in his youth and was concerned that some women had abortions because of him. He was experiencing severe backaches and had difficulty sleeping. He associated his poor health with the effects of a fetus ghost," Yang said. "After one week of worshipping, the man said that the pain in his back improved and he was able to get a good night's sleep."
"For me, fetus ghosts really exist," said Yang. He gives an example of how he knows: "Sometimes, the [priest] is careless and misses part of the daily ritual. Consequently, the fetus ghost will lock us in the building until we worship them again."
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