The China Development Research Foundation (CDRF) — a think tank affiliated with the Chinese government — has recommended that China gradually phase in a two-child policy over the next three years, and then cease all birth limits in the year 2020, according to a China Daily report.\u00a0 This recommendation was based on the coming demographic disaster caused by low birth rates combined with an ageing population, as well as the severe gender imbalance caused by son preference.\u00a0 Some western media sources have exaggerated the report\u2019s recommendations, stating, for example, that the CDRF report concludes that the One Child Policy should be \u201cabandoned immediately . . . sending shock waves through the international community . . .\u201d or urges the Chinese government to \u201cend\u201d or \u201cscrap\u201d the One Child Policy now.<\/p>\n
The CDRF report does not support the conclusion that China will \u201cabandon,\u201d \u201cend\u201d or \u201cscrap\u201d the One Child Policy immediately, nor are \u201cshock waves\u201d warranted, for the following reasons.<\/p>\n
1) <\/strong>The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has not adopted the CDRF\u2019s recommendations, and is not required ever to do so.<\/strong> Indeed, earlier this year, amidst multiple reports of late-term forced abortions, the National Population and Family Planning Commission affirmed that it continues to stand by the One Child Policy, praising it for preventing 400 million births.<\/p>\n <\/strong><\/p>\n 2)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Instituting a two-child policy will not end forced abortion.<\/strong> The problem with the One Child Policy is not the number of children \u201callowed.\u201d\u00a0 Rather, it is the fact that the CCP is telling women how many children they can have and then enforcing that limit through forced abortion, forced sterilization and infanticide. <\/strong> Even if all couples were allowed two children, there is no guarantee that the CCP will cease their appalling methods of enforcement.\u00a0 Regardless of the number of children allowed, women 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.\u00a0 It does not matter whether you are pro-life or pro-choice on this issue.\u00a0 No one supports forced abortion, because it is not a choice.<\/p>\n 3) <\/strong>Instituting a two-child policy will not end gendercide.<\/strong> Indeed, areas in which two children currently are allowed are especially vulnerable to gendercide, the sex-selective abortion of females.\u00a0 According to the 2009 British Medical Journal study of 2005 national census data, in nine provinces, for \u201csecond order births\u201d where the first child is a girl, 160 boys were born for every 100 girls. In two provinces, Jiangsu and Anhui, for the second child, there were 190 boys for every hundred girls born. This study stated, \u201cSex selective abortion accounts for almost all the excess males.\u201d\u00a0 Because of this gendercide, there are an estimated 37 million Chinese men who will never marry because their future wives were terminated before they were born. This gender imbalance is a powerful, driving force behind trafficking in women and sexual slavery, not only in China, but in neighboring nations as well. <\/strong><\/p>\n 4) <\/strong>The Chinese Communist Party periodically modifies the One Child Policy, but the coercion at its core remains. <\/strong>Reports of these tweaks — especially when amplified by western media — throw the human rights world into confusion and blunt genuine efforts to end forced abortion in China.\u00a0 On September 9, 2010, for example, TIME ran the headline, \u201cChina Could Overthrow One-Child Rule.\u201d Myriad other news sources followed suit. <\/strong>This dramatic headline was based on the fact that China proposed to run a pilot program allowing some couples to have two children. \u00a0Soon afterwards, on September 25, 2010 \u2013 the 30th<\/sup> anniversary of the One Child Policy \u2013 a top population control official praised the policy and stated that China \u201cwill stick to the family planning policy in the coming decades.\u201d\u00a0 Moreover, despite this pilot program, numerous reports of late-term forced abortions have surfaced since 2010, including the forced abortion at seven months of Feng Jianmei in June 2012. For a discussion of forced abortion cases that have arisen in 2011-2012, read WRWF\u2019s Complaint to the UNCSW. http:\/\/www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org\/blog\/?p=717<\/a><\/p>\n Regardless, the CDRF report is courageous and significant because of their connection with the government.\u00a0 It is perhaps because of this connection that they apparently left forced abortion and other human rights atrocities out of their discussion.\u00a0 (Their full report has yet to be released.)\u00a0 Stating that the CDRF has recommended an immediate abandonment of the One Child Policy, however, mischaracterizes the report and abandons the women who are victims of that policy.<\/p>\n The Chinese Communist Party has not \u201cabandoned\u201d the One Child Policy based on the CDRF recommendation. <\/strong>The coercive enforcement of China\u2019s One Child Policy continues to cause more violence toward women and girls than any other official policy on earth, and any other official policy in the history of the world.\u00a0 Those who care about women and girls must continue to press with persistence until forced abortion and gendercide are eradicated from the face of the earth. <\/strong><\/p>\n View WRWF\u2019s \u201cSave a Girl\u201d campaign to end gendercide and forced abortion. Sign a petition to end forced abortion. Watch Stop Forced Abortion \u2013 China\u2019s War on Women!\u00a0\u00a0(4 mins) Related Links:<\/p>\n China Eyes Change to One Child Policy 11\/2\/12 Time to loosen family planning policy:\u00a0 think tank 10\/26\/12 WRWF\u2019s Complaint to the UNCSW 8\/1\/12 Reports of Forced Abortion Fuel Push to End Chinese Law 7\/22\/12 BREAKING\u00a0 (Warning, graphic image) Chinese Woman Forcibly Aborted at Seven Months 6\/12\/12 One Child Policy to Stay, Despite Experts\u2019 Critique 4\/11\/12 Family Planning Policy Stays Put.\u00a0 China Daily News, 9\/27\/10 China Could Overthrow One-Child Rule 9\/9\/10 The China Development Research Foundation (CDRF) — a think tank affiliated with the Chinese government — has recommended that China gradually phase in a two-child policy over the next three years, and then cease all birth limits in the year … Continue reading
\nhttp:\/\/womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org\/index.php?nav=end-gendercide-and-forced-abortion<\/a><\/p>\n
\nhttp:\/\/www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org\/index.php?nav=sign_our_petition<\/a><\/p>\n
\n<\/a>www.youtube.com\/watch?v=JjtuBcJUsjY<\/a><\/p>\n
\nhttp:\/\/communities.washingtontimes.com\/neighborhood\/red-thread-adoptive-family-forum\/2012\/nov\/2\/china-eyes-change-one-child-policy\/<\/a><\/p>\n
\nhttp:\/\/usa.chinadaily.com.cn\/china\/2012-10\/26\/content_15850745.htm<\/a><\/p>\n
\nhttp:\/\/www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org\/blog\/?p=717<\/a><\/p>\n
\nhttp:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2012\/07\/23\/world\/asia\/pressure-to-repeal-chinas-one-child-law-is-growing.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all<\/a><\/p>\n
\n<\/a>http:\/\/www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org\/blog\/?p=667<\/a><\/p>\n
\n<\/a>http:\/\/www.china.org.cn\/china\/2012-04\/11\/content_25112722.htm<\/a><\/p>\n
\n<\/a>http:\/\/www.chinadaily.com.cn\/china\/2010-09\/27\/content_11350778.htm<\/a><\/p>\n
\nhttp:\/\/newsfeed.time.com\/2010\/09\/09\/china-could-overthrow-one-child-rule\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"