Such a stark image begs the question: how did China reach this point? The story stretches back over three decades, to a government policy that has resulted in the prevalence of sex-selective abortions.<\/p>\n
Strict government control over family size has caused a serious gender imbalance due to a preference for sons, with today\u00a033 million more Chinese men\u00a0than women. \u201cAs more men remain unmarried, it raises the risks of anti-social and violent behavior,\u201d notes one\u00a0recent report.<\/p>\n
Major media outlets such as the New York Times<\/em> and BBC News have recently touted a supposed shift in China\u2019s totalitarian policies \u2013 from allowing Chinese parents to have a single child, to now proposing incentives for a newly revised Two Child Policy.<\/p>\n Yet the true picture is not as reassuring as the \u201cofficial\u201d story would indicate. Thirty-five years of national population control have had an undeniably troubling impact on Chinese society.<\/p>\n According to China\u2019s former Minister of Health Gao Qiang, China has 400 million<\/i> fewer people today as a result of these policies. In other words, China has lost more people than the current 321.4 million population of the United States.In Shanghai, men search postings at the \u201cmarriage market\u201d (Photo: Chris Bentley \/ Flickr)<\/em><\/p>\n The Chinese Communist Party has a long history of falsely representing its family-planning regulations. Originally implemented in 1979, the One Child Policy utilizes forced abortions, forced sterilization and forced contraception to manage population growth.<\/p>\n A 2013 Chinese law sought to revise this policy, stating that families in which one parent<\/i> was a single child would be allowed to bear two children. However, revising regulations has not reversed the human rights violations that persist.<\/p>\n \u201cEven if all couples were allowed two children, there is no guarantee that the Chinese Communist Party will cease their appalling methods of enforcement,\u201d says human rights activist and former lawyer Reggie Littlejohn.<\/p>\n Describing the violent methods that have persisted for decades, Littlejohn continues, \u201cWomen who get pregnant without permission will still be dragged out of their homes, strapped down to tables, and forced to abort babies that they want, even up to the ninth month of pregnancy.\u201d<\/p>\n According to the latest report of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, family planning regulations in 22 out China\u2019s 31 provinces explicitly instruct officials to implement coercive measures such as forced abortions as their supposed remedy to solve the issue of \u201cout-of-plan\u201d pregnancies.<\/p>\n \u201cPro-choice and pro-life advocates can agree: No one should support forced abortion, because it is not a choice,\u201d concludes Littlejohn, who advocates for justice through Women\u2019s Rights Without Frontiers<\/a>.With hundreds of millions of abortions, the loss of life in China is staggering (Image: Metro UK)<\/em><\/p>\n Chinese families\u2019 preference for sons became the subject of a 2014 New York City art exhibit, as artist Prune Nourry sought to raise awareness of the human rights injustices created by population control.<\/p>\n \u201cStanding for the value of every human life is a cause that can change the culture of China,\u201d says Matt Lockett, Executive Director of Bound4LIFE International, which is involved in many nations globally. \u201cA prayer movement has already begun that is contending for life with the same determination as this father protecting his daughter at the airport.\u201d<\/p>\n Read the original article at bound4life.com: http:\/\/bound4life.com\/blog\/2015\/02\/18\/viral-photos-of-little-girl-and-her-dad-capture-why-china-is-a-ticking-time-bomb\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Marisa Lengor Kwaning Reprinted with permission from bound4life. \u00a0 On the eve of Chinese New Year, photos of a father and daughter traveling to see her grandparents have gone viral\u00a0\u2013 picked up by dozens of blogs and media outlets … Continue reading ![\"Reggie](\"http:\/\/bound4life.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/ReggieLittlejohn640.jpg\")
\nReggie Littlejohn speaks at a press conference in the Canadian Parliament
\n(Photo: WRWF<\/a>)<\/em><\/p>\n