From One Extreme To The Other

Years ago we used to hear about family size restrictions in China and gasp.  How could they do such a thing?  Here in America there is no limitation on family size.  In fact, there is great debate in this country now, despite the fact that abortion is legal and has been for decades, as to whether abortion laws should be overturned.  Protests abound and there is great pressure on family planning clinics to cease operation.  However, at this time most individuals who choose abortion are able to do so.  China, not so much.

Chinese law is still very restrictive when it comes to the size of the family, but in rural areas, officials seem to impose their own laws..  Recently a woman who was 7 months pregnant was forced to have an abortion because the family could not afford the $6,300 fine for having a second child.  Graphic photos of the dead fetus lying next to the mother were posted online, drawing condemnation and renewing criticism of the one-child policy.  This has angered officials, and the father of the dead child has been harassed and forced into hiding. 

It seems to me that what the Chinese government is most upset about is that their little secret was exposed to the world.  The baby's father told a journalist, and the rest is history.  The whole world knew, and this was embarassing to the Chinese government.

Barbara Demick, an LA Times reporter, recently wrote the following. "Walk into the village's one general store and a group of men lets loose a stream of expletives about the coercive methods used by family planning officials.  It is not that the men are morally opposed to abortion, they say, or even to limits on family size, but to the violence that often accompanies.  I support the family planning policy, but not their methods, said Ji Shuqiang, 42, working behind the cash register at the village store.  If they find a woman who's pregnant, no matter how far along, they'll make you have an abortion."

Apparently the officials involved have been punished.  The head of family planning inZenping county has been removed from his post.  Another official was given "administrative demertis."  Big deal.

I often get upset when I see protestors outside family planning buildings in the US, but then I think about places like China.  Here we have a choice, and those that don't agree with our laws have a right to protest.  In China, the women have no choice and are often taken by force to have abortions.  Our system may not be perfect, but women still have choice.