{"id":1408,"date":"2013-11-18T08:13:18","date_gmt":"2013-11-18T08:13:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org\/blog\/?p=1408"},"modified":"2013-11-18T08:28:46","modified_gmt":"2013-11-18T08:28:46","slug":"chinese-official-backtracks-%e2%80%9cbirth-policy-changes-are-no-big-deal%e2%80%9d","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org\/blog\/chinese-official-backtracks-%e2%80%9cbirth-policy-changes-are-no-big-deal%e2%80%9d\/","title":{"rendered":"China Backtracks: \u201cBirth Policy Changes Are No Big Deal\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

Under the misleading headline, \u201cChina to Ease One-Child Policy,\u201d Xinhua News Agency reported last Friday that China will now lift the ban on a second child, if either parent is an only child. <\/span>Similarly, last Friday the mainstream media ran such optimistic headlines as \u201cChina Reforms: <\/span>One-child policy to be relaxed\u201d and \u201cChina to ease One Child Policy.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

In apparent response to quell speculation that this small adjustment represents a major reform, Xinhua ran another report over the weekend: <\/span>\u201cBirth policy changes are no big deal.\u201d <\/span>In this second report Xinhua quotes <\/span>Wang Pei’an, deputy director of the National Health and Family Planning Commission (NHFPC), at length. <\/span>In an interview, Wang told Xinhua that \u201cthe number of couples covered by the new policy is not very large across the country.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In addition, Wang stated that \u201cthere is no unified timetable nationwide to start the new policy, as regions will implement it at different times based on their local situation.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Wang \u201csuggested that regions which have many suitable couples should promote a reasonable birth interval to avoid birth accumulation.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

He concluded that \u201cthe basic state policy of family planning will be adhered to over a long period of time.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Reggie Littlejohn, President of Women\u2019s Rights Without Frontiers, stated, <\/span>\u201cto say that China has \u2018relaxed\u2019 or \u2018eased\u2019 its One Child Policy under these circumstances is completely unwarranted. <\/span>To the contrary, Xinhua\u2019s weekend report makes it clear that the minor modification of the policy announced Friday: <\/span><\/p>\n

1) will not affect a large percentage of couples in China; <\/span><\/p>\n

2) is not currently subject to a timetable in which to implement it; <\/span><\/p>\n

3) retains the dreaded \u201cbirth intervals\u201d between children (if a woman gets pregnant before the interval has lapsed, she may be subject to a crushing fine or forced abortion); <\/span><\/p>\n

4) makes no promise to end the coercive enforcement of the Policy; and <\/span><\/p>\n

5) promises to continue the One Child Policy \u201cover a long period of time\u201d \u2013 which could be decades.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Littlejohn continued: <\/span>\u201c<\/span>Headlines stating that China has \u2018eased\u2019 or \u2018relaxed\u2019 its One Child Policy are detrimental to sincere efforts to stop forced abortion in China, because they imply that the One Child Policy is no longer a problem. <\/span>In a world laden with compassion fatigue, people are relieved to cross China\u2019s One Child Policy off of their list of things to worry about. <\/span>But we cannot do that. <\/span>Let us not abandon the women of China, who continue to face forced abortion, up to the ninth month of pregnancy. <\/span>The One Child Policy does not need to be adjusted. <\/span>It needs to be abolished.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Sign our petition against forced abortion in China. http:\/\/www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org\/index.php?nav=sign_our_petition<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/a>Watch our video, \u201cStop Forced Abortion: <\/span>China\u2019s War on Women\u201d (4 mins)
\nhttp:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=JjtuBcJUsjY<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Read the Xinhua Article: <\/span>\u201cBirth policy changes are no big deal\u201d
\n<\/a><\/span>http:\/\/news.xinhuanet.com\/english\/indepth\/2013-11\/16\/c_132893477.htm<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Under the misleading headline, \u201cChina to Ease One-Child Policy,\u201d Xinhua News Agency reported last Friday that China will now lift the ban on a second child, if either parent is an only child. Similarly, last Friday the mainstream media ran … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"yes","footnotes":""},"categories":[49,7,16,20,1,55],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1408","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-chinas-one-child-policy","category-forced-abortion","category-forced-sterilization","category-reggie-littlejohn","category-uncategorized","category-womens-rights-without-frontiers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1408","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1408"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1408\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1418,"href":"https:\/\/www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1408\/revisions\/1418"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1408"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1408"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1408"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}