In the article from Time World, journalist Laura Fitzpatrick gives a brief history and description of China’s one-child policy. China, one of the most populous countries in the world, economically grew with its huge population; however population growth brought along heavy social costs as well. Since 1955, Chinese officials started to launch a campaign to promote birth control; however it was never established till 1979. China’s one-child policy is a population control policy that limits all families to no more than one child. Since 1979, this policy has prevented up to 250 million births in China, saving the country from population explosion. Depending on where people live, couples with a supernumerary child have to pay fines up to thousands of dollars. Although the law offers longer maternity leave and other benefits to couples that delay childbearing, forced abortions or sterilization are commonly reported. This policy is greatly encouraged throughout the country that awards are handed out to those who volunteer to have only one child. However does the government have the right to take away birth rights? And is it correct for the government to sacrifice individual rights for the general public?
One of the advantages of the one-child policy is that it keeps control of the population so that the food supply and population growth is balanced. Also, less people suffer from poverty, and deficiency of resources. In addition, it decreases crowdedness and increases the living qualities in China. Another benefit from this policy is that individual savings have increased, since parents no longer need to spend their money, time and resource on multiple children.
However advantages come with disadvantages, for example this policy caused various issues such as gender and age imbalance in society. Since boys are physically stronger than women, males have always been culturally preferable in the Chinese society; especially in the countryside where labor work and farm work is crucial. This resulting gender imbalance especially widened after ultrasounds tests and abortions became more common. Sex discrimination has caused a huge gap in population between males and females. The number of young people in the country has gradually become a problem as well. Factories have reported shortages in youth-labor in recent years, and this problem has only worsened. In addition, another fear is that since the amount of children are decreasing rapidly each year, there will be too few children to take care of the elderly, and so the elder generation will possibly suffer neglect in the future.
Ethical considerations are tied to this issue. Birthrights are one of the most common privileges one can have, so by taking away birthrights, it is violating human rights, which ties back to the question raised at the beginning: Is it right for the government to take away individual rights for the general public? Personally, I believe that it is unethical to limit people’s birthrights. Firstly, by establishing this rule, many people are forced into a situation where they have to go through illegal abortions or sterilizations to escape the government. And since abortions are similar to murders, there are ethical considerations tied to them as well. Secondly, birthrights are human rights, which are privileges. Therefore, by limiting or taking away birthrights, people are no longer choosing to give birth, but rather they are permitted to give birth.
A real-life situation that relates to the issue discussed above is the law in Taiwan which states that teenagers under 18 are prohibited to leave their homes after 12 in the midnight. Here, teenagers are sacrificing their individual rights to go out for public safety and security. The advantage of this law is to prevent unwanted crimes and social problems, however at the same time; the government is taking away individual rights of teenagers in Taiwan.
I agree that China's birth policy really is encroaching on some basic human rights. But of course there is also the other side of the argument, backed by Reason/Logic. For everyone to make this small sacrifice, which in reality does not affect our lives in any drastic way, for the good of the whole nation. At least, that was the mindset back then, when overpopulation was the concern. There are always side effects, especially to major decisions like these. Situations are always changing, and what the government thought was best for the country in the past may not apply anymore. Instead of waiting until it becomes a problem and then trying to patch up the hole at the last minute, we really should try for evaluating the situation regularly to see if there is a better course of action that can be taken.
ReplyDeleteAs the comment above stated, I also agree that having the one child policy has taken a human's right away; however, if a family has the financial ability to support more than one child, then why not? I do agree that having abortions is equivalent to murder, yet without this policy, there would be a shortage of food and other resources. Without this one child policy, the population of China would exceed its ability to stay out of poverty.
ReplyDeleteI personally find that the One Child Policy is a necessity in China since without this policy, some children would be left without a safe environment to stay in or fresh healthy food to eat. The ratio of the population to food would be so unbalanced that many children would be hungry and perhaps die due to starvation. There are many ethical guidelines to consider during a situation like this. While many people defend the right to have a child, they often overlook the responsibility of a family to be able to raise the child well first. If this is not the case for most of China, then the current policy is basically forcing people to act responsibly.