From MSNBC, a story about the dangers of a culture of death, run by a government out to keep the birth rate low. The problems of overpopulation in China can be worked on with moral methods. The problems caused by this immoral one child policy are much deeper and will hurt China more and more in decades to come.
"In her grief, Zhang, 59, was forced to come to terms with the marginal life of a childless middle-aged woman of few resources in a society where children and the extension of the family line are essential to a person’s survival. She began to blame her husband, feeling he did not support her enough to have a second child. Zhang retreated from society, even living in a monastery for several years to escape the pain.
Each year 76,000 families in China lose their only child, according to an annual report by Chinese Ministry of Health in 2010. In June 2012, for the first time, over 80 parents from all over the country who had lost their only child marched to Beijing to protest the policy and the meager compensation they are given in front of the National Family Planning office.
Zhang heard about the protest and began to think about her own experience. Having one child had not been her choice. Indeed she had been pregnant twice after she gave birth to her son, thinking that, as a farmer, she would be exempt from the one-child policy.
But she says her county’s family planning department coerced her into having abortions under the threat of losing her husband’s teaching job and their house. The abortions were administered late, she said once when she was five months pregnant and once at eight months, when a gruesome procedure is required.
The Chinese Ministry of Health released data in March that 336 million abortions 222 million sterilizations have been performed since 1971. (The one-child policy was implemented in 1979, but other family planning policies were enforced before it).
"In her grief, Zhang, 59, was forced to come to terms with the marginal life of a childless middle-aged woman of few resources in a society where children and the extension of the family line are essential to a person’s survival. She began to blame her husband, feeling he did not support her enough to have a second child. Zhang retreated from society, even living in a monastery for several years to escape the pain.
Each year 76,000 families in China lose their only child, according to an annual report by Chinese Ministry of Health in 2010. In June 2012, for the first time, over 80 parents from all over the country who had lost their only child marched to Beijing to protest the policy and the meager compensation they are given in front of the National Family Planning office.
Zhang heard about the protest and began to think about her own experience. Having one child had not been her choice. Indeed she had been pregnant twice after she gave birth to her son, thinking that, as a farmer, she would be exempt from the one-child policy.
But she says her county’s family planning department coerced her into having abortions under the threat of losing her husband’s teaching job and their house. The abortions were administered late, she said once when she was five months pregnant and once at eight months, when a gruesome procedure is required.
NBC could not confirm Zhang’s allegation, but reports of forced abortions have caused international outcry in recent years. In June 2012 city officials in China apologized to a woman who was forced to have an abortion and disciplined three people responsible for it. The apology came after gruesome photos of the mother and the fetus sparked outrage among Chinese netizens."
The Chinese Ministry of Health released data in March that 336 million abortions 222 million sterilizations have been performed since 1971. (The one-child policy was implemented in 1979, but other family planning policies were enforced before it).