Over thirty years ago, a country restricted the rights of half of its citizenship and has resumed this infringement shamelessly ever since.  China faced a pervasive population issue years ago that threatened the wellbeing of its country, and so resorted to more and more extreme policies to exert control over its people.  The most infamous of these measures is the one- (most recently the two-) child policy.  As the name suggests, this policy forced couples bear only one child.  Although it is theoretically straightforward, in reality, many complications can arise that are neither easily nor simply addressed.  The implementation of these policies has wrought strife upon the minds and damage upon the bodies of Chinese women.  From what I examine on forced medical procedures, female infanticide and elimination, and birth permits, one can see that population control policies have significant negative effects on the mental and physical wellbeing and on the rights of Chinese women.

Although these policies affect the entire country, Chinese women have been disproportionately affected.  These policies affect them in a very personal and intimate way.  The procedures forced upon them are invasive and sometimes affect their bodies in a physical way for the rest of their lives.  These are not consenting medical procedures the way they are in many other countries, and most women may not opt out willingly or with a fine.  They also have profound effects on the future of women as female infanticide is on the rise.  In 2030, there are projected to be 30 million more adult men than there will be adult women in China (Qing).  Birth registrations also subject a physical and emotional toll on women: children born without a birth permit essentially do not exist in the eyes of the Chinese government.  This makes selling your children a viable option for families that do not want a daughter or the burden of another or a female child.  

China’s faced incredible issues with overpopulation issues for years in the past.    Their population was reproducing far too quickly and creating an immense strain on the country’s resources.  In order to encourage families to have fewer children, the government made a campaign that endorsed a flip on what it meant to have a desirable family.  The government gave rewards to families with fewer children.  This campaign ran successfully and the population took a major hit.  However, the government knew the strain on resources was still too great.  In fear of what may happen if they did not take action immediately, the one-child policy was instated in 1979 (Wu, 173).  This policy made it illegal to have more than one child and was enforceable by fines and forced abortions.  Then, the government began to slowly instate changes, starting in 2013, to allow more families to have a second child. (Qing).  After these changes, the one-child policy “only applied to about a third of the population.” (Now This).  In October of 2015, the one-child policy officially ended, now allowing all couples to have a second child (Beauchamp).

The most obvious and stunning harm that is forced upon women is the forced procedures.  These procedures include abortions sterilizations, and the insertion of IUDs.  They are not in any way required to be consented to by the parties involved; neither these women nor their loved ones have a choice in the matter.  They are carried out often enough that there need to be local clinics available in which to perform them.  The clinics are often dirty and unsafe (Jian).  This targets poorer women particularly because they do not have a choice in whether they have the procedure, and often can’t afford to pay for somewhere that is safer than their local clinics.

Women are often forced to have abortions when they are pregnant with another child, but do not volunteer to have an abortion and cannot pay the hefty fees that come with birthing another child (Jian).  Abortions are known to be an emotionally heavy experience for many women, so these forced abortions are much more mentally taxing than they would be under normal circumstances.  This can exacerbate previous mental illnesses such as depression or anxiety.  Not to mention the physical toll that these procedures can take considering the unsanitary areas they are often performed in.  These clinics are not suitable to be used as surgical facilities.  Mia Jian included a personal account from one of the women forced to have an abortion:

when she was eight months pregnant with an illegal second child and was unable to pay the 20,000 yuan fine (about $3,200), family planning officers dragged her to the local clinic, bound her to a surgical table and injected a lethal drug into her abdomen. For two days she writhed on the table, her hands and feet still bound with rope, waiting for her body to eject the murdered baby. In the final stage of labor, a male doctor yanked the dead fetus out by the foot, then dropped it into a garbage can. She had no money for a cab. She had to hobble home, blood dripping down her legs and staining her white sandals red. (jian)

Some women are made to have sterilizations or IUDs after they have reached their limit of children. Wee says women were “fitted with an intrauterine device after they had one child, and sterilized after they had two.”  Three hundred twenty-four million women were voluntarily or forcibly fitted with IUDs (Wee).  She says that many of these women are outraged after the Chinese government, in the scramble to encourage Chinese couples to have a second child, has offered to remove IUDs free of charge.  

One of the profound ways that the population control policies impact not only the current status of women, but the future of women, is through the “elimination” of female children.  Because the families who may want a male child only have one attempt at attaining one, females are often removed in various ways.  The primary ones are abandonment, “sex-selective” abortion, and infanticide (Wu,172).  The most prominent of these is abortion, as this is the simplest and most convenient option.

Abortion is one of the more prominent options in the elimination of female children from Chinese households (Wu).  This method’s use has been on the rise because ultrasounds have become more available for every Chinese family.  These ultrasounds provide the sex of the fetus, which is for many couples a determinant factor in their consideration of whether or not they want to keep it.  The rate of abortion for female fetuses is much higher than it is for male ones, according to a study conducted by Wu.  They were also less likely to survive seven days into the neonatal period. 

These things result from the cultural bias towards having a son (Wu).  The population control policies do not actively push the sidelining of female children, but rather indirectly influence their futures.  Because these policies only give families limited attempts to birth males, they encourage the disenfranchisement of female children.

Birth registrations are another thing that limits the future of Chinese women.  The birth registrations are required in order to have a child in china.  They are granted only to married women, which effect heavily the lives of women who are officially “single.”  If a birth registration is not obtained, the child does not officially exist in the eyes of the government (Li).  These permits limit exceptionally the poor, considering there are ways of circumventing the rules that restrict the people.

The current process of birth registrations restricts the rights of single women and women that do not conform to the heteronormative mold of Chinese society.  Only women who are married to a man are considered not to be single in the eyes of the government (Keyi).  Single women that wish to be mothers are not allowed without paying heavy fines, which many cannot afford.  This also affects women with female partners that want children, since these women are also considered single.  There is no mercy spared for women in long-term relationships with men either, as these women are also considered single in the eyes of Chinese law.  This is unfair, as women deserve to assert their reproductive rights and have children at the time in their life that they consider most fitting for them.

The birth registrations also hurt poor women.  The fees are an absolute curse for families that cannot afford to pay them.  These fees do not serve to deter pregnancies, but rather punish women and their families.  However, richer families view the fees as a blessing; it means they may buy their way to larger families.  These rich families are disproportionately unaffected by the population control policies.  There are more loopholes that they may utilize that are not available to those who can’t afford them.  

 The population control policies are very harmful towards women.  These policies affect their rights and their wellbeing.  They are brutal and inhumane, and they are not just to the women that they are inflicted upon.  These policies are harming the country more than they are protecting them, too- China’s birthrate sit near 1.05, which is much less than the 2.1 it should be at (Wee).  The population is aging, and the government can’t afford to support it (Beauchamp).  The children being born without siblings to share the burden cannot afford it either. (NowThis).  These policies do not affect much now outside of the invasion of women’s bodies and rights.

However, it is true that the extreme population control policies have reduced the population greatly.  The Chinese government claims that the policies prevented as many as 400 million births (NowThis).  The prevention of these births reduced poverty created by large families.  It allowed children to have all the time and resources their parents could offer, providing a more educated workforce (Thomas Reuters).  The policies, in conjunction with time and social activism, have pushed many women towards the careers they desired.  Because they are not as occupied at home with a large family, they have time and opportunity to start and enhance their careers.  Many young couples, in fact, choose not to have second children because they are enamored with the life of a middle class working couple.  

All of these benefits were in some ways undoubtedly useful in creating a better China.  Yet, now there is an aging population that is not suited for the workforce.  The elderly Chinese group is expected to compose 28.1 percent of the population by 2040 (Beauchamp).  Millions of women have suffered at the hands of the government.  Psychologists worry that a country full of only-children could affect the successful running of society in terms of social skills and development.  

The population control policies do not offer women the support that they need.  Because the indirect and direct affects are so profound, it is important that the Chinese government should consider them before creating the population control policies.  They should also open centers and create programs that offer support to Chinese women in the form of counseling, birth control, and fertility services.  The government should make education more available to all women, especially in rural areas.  Education is a great way to encourage women to follow a career path and possibly have fewer children or start families when they get older.  Women are fully capable of remaining in control of their reproductive rights and their own family planning.  These things could improve the lives of many women and support the future of women.

Population control in China is detrimental to the health and human rights of Chinese women.  The effects of these policies, whether purposeful or not, sideline the women that are part of the population that they were created to protect.  It has done its job as far as benefitting the country, but has outlived its welcome and created economic, social, and moral issues.  The country has hideously mauled the bodies and rights of women.  It has inflicted forced procedures and did not always grant governmental personhood to children.  
