Title: The Chinese problem.

POPLINE Document Number: 119690

Author(s):

Potts M

Source citation:

World Medicine, 1983 Jun 11;18(17):33-6.

Abstract:

The People's Republic of China is promoting the policy of the one-child family; it is an unprecedented social experiment. Daily women come to have abortions to end second pregnancies. In 1981 in a commune of 44,000 people there were 8686 married women of reproductive age and 7294 were potentially fertile. All except 4 used a method of contraception, had accepted sterilization, or were currently pregnant; 1937 had been sterilized, 2087 wore IUDs, 2326 used oral contraceptives (OCs), 609 used condoms, and 35 used monthly injectable contraceptives. Only 9 of the men had had vasectomies. When a family signs a 1-child family certificate, they receive a monthly bonus of about 10% of their total income until the child is 14; they are also given living space equal to that of a 2-child family. In the commune monitored 2782 couples had signed the certificate. The 1-child family policy is designed to help China reach zero population growth by the year 2000. A monthly injectable contraceptive has been perfected and there are 8 years of accumulated research on a once-a-month OC, yet there are over 5.5 million legal abortions yearly.

Keywords:

China
Population Policy
Involuntary Fertility Control
One Child Policy
Antinatalist Policy
Zero Population Growth
Developing Countries
Asia, Eastern
Asia
Social Policy
Policy
Family Planning Policy
Population Size
Population Dynamics
Demographic Factors
Population