China's Invisible Children & the One Child Law
Sierra Furtado
Neil Campbell
ENG 1010
2.21.13
China’s Invisible Children & The One Child Law. “In order to stabilize the world’s population,” wrote Jacques Yves Cousteau “350,000 must be eliminated per day.” This powerfully haunting statement has been regulated and reinforced in China, by their government, since 1979. Although Chinese officials don’t eradicate nearly even a quarter as many lives daily, their One Child Law does put a reasonable dent into the lives that are brought into the world we live in. China’s law, as cold and cruel as it may seem to some, does serve a definitive purpose; to control their population.
How exactly does this “One Child Law” control the Chinese population? Forced abortions, yep it’s real a families very own worst nightmare, and it’s only one of the few ways China enforces control on their people. Wait, wait, wait, isn’t abortion illegal? No, it is very legal to get an abortion up to the third trimester in China, since 1953 in fact. One such instance of China’s government officials forcing abortions upon families is the story of Pan Chunyan. In Beijing while grocery shopping, she was grabbed, still eight months pregnant with her third child, by two men who were working for a local official, and locked her up with two other women. Four days later they forced her to put her thumbprint on a document stating that she had agreed to an abortion, a nurse then came in and injected a drug into her. “After I got the shot, all the thugs disappeared. My family was with me again. I cried and hoped that my baby would survive.” Ms. Pan, 31, told a reporter over a telephone interview, from her home in Fujian. However hours after her labor, the baby was born dead on April, 8, “black and blue all over,” Ms. Pan said. Another way to ensure that this law was held to its fullest, were the incentives the Chinese government bestowed upon the couples and families who complied with the law. The incentives varied from higher wages, better
Neil Campbell
ENG 1010
2.21.13
China’s Invisible Children & The One Child Law. “In order to stabilize the world’s population,” wrote Jacques Yves Cousteau “350,000 must be eliminated per day.” This powerfully haunting statement has been regulated and reinforced in China, by their government, since 1979. Although Chinese officials don’t eradicate nearly even a quarter as many lives daily, their One Child Law does put a reasonable dent into the lives that are brought into the world we live in. China’s law, as cold and cruel as it may seem to some, does serve a definitive purpose; to control their population.
How exactly does this “One Child Law” control the Chinese population? Forced abortions, yep it’s real a families very own worst nightmare, and it’s only one of the few ways China enforces control on their people. Wait, wait, wait, isn’t abortion illegal? No, it is very legal to get an abortion up to the third trimester in China, since 1953 in fact. One such instance of China’s government officials forcing abortions upon families is the story of Pan Chunyan. In Beijing while grocery shopping, she was grabbed, still eight months pregnant with her third child, by two men who were working for a local official, and locked her up with two other women. Four days later they forced her to put her thumbprint on a document stating that she had agreed to an abortion, a nurse then came in and injected a drug into her. “After I got the shot, all the thugs disappeared. My family was with me again. I cried and hoped that my baby would survive.” Ms. Pan, 31, told a reporter over a telephone interview, from her home in Fujian. However hours after her labor, the baby was born dead on April, 8, “black and blue all over,” Ms. Pan said. Another way to ensure that this law was held to its fullest, were the incentives the Chinese government bestowed upon the couples and families who complied with the law. The incentives varied from higher wages, better
Cited: Fitzpatrick, Laura. "China 's One Child Policy." Time Magazine. Time Magazine, 27 July 2009. Web. 26 Feb. 2013. www.time.com/time. Wong, Edward. "Reports of Forced Abortions Fuel to End Chinese Law." The New York Times. The New York Times, 22 July 2012. Web. 26 Feb. 2013. www.nytimes.com.