China battles gender based abortion
Efforts to curb sex-selective abortions come amid shortage of wives.
| China’s ‘one-child’ policy |
|
Planned birth policy, as it is known in China, first implemented in 1979 Government permission required for having a child Strongly enforced in urban areas but varies for different locations and ethnic groups Those in rural areas usually allowed second child if first is a girl or disabled Ethnic minorities usually allowed to have more children Penalties for having more than one child usually economic – fines, denial of work bonuses, having to pay for child to go to school and whole family’s healthcare, But officials also reportedly detain family members, destroy houses, sterilise women and conduct forced abortions Government blames overzealous officials for any inhumane or uncivilised enforcement of the policy In some cities, couples who are both only children themselves may have two children China’s fertility rate estimated to be between 1.6 and 2 births per woman Government says 1.3 billion population is 300 million smaller than it would have been without policy |
The imbalance has grown since China introduced a one-child policy more than 25 years ago to curb population growth in the world’s most populous nation – now with about 1.3 billion citizens.
