No Amount of “Easing” Will Fix China’s Brutal Population Control Policy

Mihajlo Drajer

IB DP ESS SL

Mrs. Medenica

18/11/13

Current Event #1

                The article ‘No Amount of “Easing” Will Fix China’s Brutal Population Control Policy’ was only recently (17^th of November) released on the website ‘www.lifenews.com’. The article, and its author Christ Smith, are discussing and criticizing China’s newborn control. Basically, what China is doing is considered to be cruel from the majority as well as the author. Women are not allowed to give birth to more than one kid, unless they remarry and produce a new child with a new husband. A permit is required for all women to have, prior to the actual day of birth of their child. If women are not to have a permit severe penalties are placed on the mother and her new born child. The author is dissatisfied with the fact that the Chinese government is still enforcing its one-child policy, which was in use for more than 3 decades. He critiques the fact that the government has done little to no-change with its inhumane and cruel policy. Chris Smith then proceeds to elaborate on how women are treated, who are pregnant with their second child. Government enforces ‘drag’ the pregnant women to ‘abortion clinics’ where the babies are brutally murdered. China’s one-child policy is very controversial, and as time passes it is considered to be less and less practical and humane. “Who are they to decide who is allowed to have kids, when and in what amounts?” wonders the author of the article. It is obvious that his rhetorical questions raise great points and even negative emotions towards the Chinese government, from the articles readers.  It is written how the ‘new’ policy now allows the second child to live only if it’s from a 2^nd marriage, meaning if the mother remarried to another man and had a child. The articles then proceeds to shut-down the Chinese government for not addressing other issues with their population control policy but are instead adding new rules in order to deviate the public from the true horrors the policy holds.

                In our Environmental Systems and Societies class we’ve recently dealt with population growth and population growth issues over time. The article chosen for the Current Event ties in perfectly to the past topic studied in class. Chinas population in 2000 was estimated to be around 1.25 billion, while in 2005 it was estimated to be 1.33 billion. The rise is by 0.07 billion (70 million) which is, when compared to other countries, extremely high (refer to graph at the end of the Current event). It is more than obvious that China is and will in the near future be exposed to overpopulation. The amount of resources and living space they have will not be sufficient for the amount of citizens they have – therefore they implemented strict regulating controls over the ‘bursting’ population. It is in my understanding that China is exposed to too many people within its borders, and after reading this article I became aware of how strict and cruel the laws they have actually are towards mothers who are trying to start families with their husbands. This topic is very controversial, so I would like to take this sentence to give out my disclaimer; my opinion on this topic isn’t meant to offend anyone or to discourage human right activists or to represent myself as an ‘inhumane’ figure. I fully understand that mothers and children are not given chances to start families   in China due to its large population. However, China faces a massive problem with overpopulation, and it is only a matter of time before the national resources are drained. I disagree with forced abortions and with the fact that only a single child is allowed per couple – I see it as a crime against the human rice. On the other hand, it’ll be impossible for China to come up with a resolution where they can maintain their population while still being humane about it. It seems to be a concept similar to communism, in theory perfect but in practice full of flawless and holes. It is impossible to control a population while allowing families to have as many kids as they desire – since every family will have different amounts of kids making the control hard to grasp on.  In conclusion, I empathize for Chinese families who are deprived from realizing their family but I understand that Chinas task cannot be executed in a humane way.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Link to the article: http://www.lifenews.com/2013/11/17/no-amount-of-easing-will-fix-chinas-brutal-population-control-policy/

MLA citations: "LifeNews.com." LifeNews.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Nov. 2013.