One child policy, Black children 중국 한자녀 정책 3

Forced-Abortion Problem

Recently, the forced-abortion problem has received heavy coverage from the media, and attention from the people. Since the One Child Policy was introduced, the Chinese government has defined having second children as “illegal”. “Defining a pregnancy as "illegal" and carrying out the surveillance of individual women are phenomena unique in China”, and it cannot be found anywhere else in the world on the world, and some reports suggest that woman may have been forced to have an abortion if an illegal pregnancy occurred, this has occurred since the One-Child policy was introduced. This brutal enforcement is taking place without considering the mother’s condition and the age of the fetus. There have been victims that were more than 6 months into their pregnancy, just before having their child. In 2009, Liu Dan, from Liuyang City in Hunan Province, was going to deliver baby in a week’s time, however she was forced to have an abortion at home by officias from the town family planning bureau. Because of this severe treatment, she died on the table with her baby. Without doubt, Forced-abortion must not be taken place in the world, because it brings about serious human right problems.

 

Although the Chinese government denies that there is no forced-abortion in China, it seems that the number of forced abortion is huge. Because it secretly proceeds and there is an unwillingness to openly reveal this, it is therefore difficult to trace how many people have been subjected to forced abortions in China. However, according to the US Department of State’s annual human rights report in 2005, in one province, 130 thousand women were in prison to have a forced-abortion, and there were about 500 women who killed themselves because out of despair that came from the shock of this brutal enforcement. Recently, the family of one victim, who was taken and forced to have an abortion by local officer in northwest China, brought the issues involved out into the open, and it has caused much anger from those who heard about it.

 

 

Deng Jiyuan and Feng Jianmei, a couple from northwest China's Shaanxi province, have a 6-year-old daughter. Under China's complicated birth calculus, they were barred from having another child. But they tried anyway. "We planned this pregnancy because our parents are old, they want us to have another child," After local family-planning officials learned 23-year-old Feng was expecting, they demanded more than $6,000 in fines. When the couple failed to pay, officials covered Feng's head with clothing, abducted her and held her for three days. Then, Deng says, he got a call from a local family-planning official. "He said, 'I told you a long time ago that you should have got the money ready and you didn't do it,' " Deng said. "One hour later, my wife called and said it was too late. She'd had an injection." The injection induced labor and ensured the couple's 7-month-old fetus was stillborn.

 

This immoral and insane action has been criticized by many Chinese people, and they insist it was not only time this has happened, there are many cases forced abortion that have taken place. Liang Jianzhang, the CEO of Ctrip, “The outrageous and violent forced- abortion incident is not unique to Shaanxi, Abolition of the absurd family-planning policy is the only way to root out this kind of evil.” Human right activist Chai Ling also criticize as “(this story) demonstrates how the One Child Policy continues to sanction violence against women every day.” It can clearly say one-child policy today goes well beyond human rights.

Why has this forced abortion taken place in China? Because of the central government’s insistence on implementing this policy. If birth rates in local areas are higher than the central government’s standard, then local government and officers receive serious punishments, such as problems with gaining promotions, a decrease in their salary, and even they can even lose their job, the same as the black children problem. Moyan, The winner of the Nobel Prize in literature in 2012, exposes the forced-abortion problem that Family planning policy has brought about in the novel, “Frog”. The heroin in this novel is based on his aunt, who was a doctor in charge of forced-abortion in a small village. The woman who many may see as a perpetrator is in fact also a victim of the policy as she undergoes a breakdown as a result of the amount of abortions she has carried out on people. This novel clearly shows that the problem of forced-abortion has taken place in China for a long time, and as the Central government have forced local governments to reduce the population size, forced abortions have consequently taken place. In other words, the One Child Policy is the main cause of these evils, and all others involved are victims.

 

However, it seems that China government wants to avoid this responsibility. Central government insists forced abortion is illegal, and if it is true, it is local government’s fault, not a side effect of One Child Policy. When Feng Jianmei case took place, China government argued that they fired and punished the person in charge and people who are related to this, and insists they will make efforts to prevent the recurrence of accidents. However, it seems that the government’s words and actions are different. Chen Guangcheng, a Chinese human rights activist who revealed the massive amount of abuse of women under the One Child Policy, was sent to jail by the Chinese Government for four years because he revealed these incidents. The Chinese government, has eventually admitted that forced abortions often take place, and they have punished some of the people involved in these incidents, however, they continue justifying and implementing the policy regardless of the brutal acts that have occurred as a consequence of it.

 

There is no excuse for forced-abortion, therefore, this brutal punishment should be banned. In order to solve this problem, the Chinese government should not force local governments to follow the One Child Policy, and should establish the law that can strongly punish officers who force women into having abortions. Moreover, a moderated birth-ratio standard is needed, and the government should not punish or give them any disadvantages to local officer even if they cannot achieve their quotas. If the government wants to control their population, they should encourage people to avoid getting pregnant, support the making of suitable family planning plans for each family according to their circumstance and income. This would be helpful in reducing the forced-abortion problem in China.

 

Conclusion

To conclude, although there are mixed feelings about the One Child Policy from many experts and organizations, this policy should be moderated. Because it is true that the One Child Policy has brought about positive effects, such as helping world population control, and economic development in China. Therefore it is difficult to say the family planning policy is an unsuccessful policy, and also difficult to say that the Chinese government should completely ban this policy. However, the social problems that this essay has discussed cannot be overlooked. There are countless Black Children in China, and they cannot receive basic social benefits. It is difficult to fully understand the lives many of them must lead when they don’t receive benefits and their lives are at a greater risk than those who are legal members of society. Abortion has brought about a serious gender imbalance in China, and it has become the cause of kidnapping women and girls in rural areas. Moreover, many Chinese women are still forced to have abortions by local governments, and the human rights abuses they suffer are very serious. These are some of the huge problems that China must work to solve as soon as possible. Although China can develop economy under many people’s blood and tears, and the people have to sacrifice the lesser of the greater, it cannot say Family Planning Policy is successful, and the result cannot be outstanding. Moreover, nowadays China wants to become the number one country over than the U.S, and one of the most important things for this is reputation of other countries, and the stabilization of domestic society. However, it seems that China government still cannot understand people’s mind and public opinion, and it may bring about the mistrust the government. It is clearly obstacle of going to developed country.

 

There is a Chinese idiom, 拔苗助长 (ba miao zhu zhang)，meaning that pull up a seedling in the mistaken hope of helping it to grow. Historical transformation in China has only taken 30 years, and usually it takes a country more that 100 years to develop, as Chinese government insists. However, in the 30 years of the brutal one-child policy, the victims are too many, and it’s not simply for the children and their families, but also for cities and China. Now, this is the time that the government should consider the problems of One Child policy, and make better policy for people to prevent more people becoming victims of a population control policy. Moreover, victims of the One Child Policy, like those discussed in this essay, should receive support and compensation for their losses. Again, the best for China is to make a family planning policy that the Chinese people will follow naturally and willingly. The policy should be relaxed, and punishment should not be so harsh. Only then will the problems discussed in this essay have a chance of being solved.