2.91 (11 votes)
Healthcare Prof:
3.8 (5 votes)
A current campaign in southwest China’s Guangxi province to enforce penalties, such as fines and forced abortion, for couples who violate China’s one-child-per-family policy lately prompted violent clashes among police and thousands of residents with the province, witnesses said Monday, the New York Times reports (Kahn, New York Times, 5/22).
China’s one-child-per-family policy seeks to maintain the country’s population, now 1.three billion, at about 1.7 billion by 2050. Methods of enforcing the policy, including fines and perform demotions, vary among Chinese provinces and cities. Dozens of females in southwest China last month reported being forced to undergo abortions as late as nine months into their pregnancies. Some ladies from Guangxi stated they were forced to have abortions because they were unmarried, even though other females were married and pregnant with their second child (Kaiser Daily Women’s Health Policy Report, 4/24).
According to London’s Guardian, the Bobai county government in Guangxi lately elevated fines for people who violate the policy and have been seizing or destroying the property of people that cannot pay the fines (Watts, Guardian, 5/22). Based on the Times, many men and women have said Guangxi officials have issued fines from 500 yuan, or about $65, to 70,000 yuan, or about $9,000, on families who violated the policy at any time because 1980. Some people said the fine, known as “social child-raising fee,” was collected despite the truth most violators with the policy had already paid a fine, the Times reports (New York Times, 5/22). Based on the AP/Boston Globe, if violators failed to pay the fine within 3 days, their houses would be destroyed and their belongings seized (Chang, AP/Boston Globe, 5/22).
Residents of Guangxi attacked loved ones preparing officials, overturned automobiles and set fire to government buildings, the Guardian reports. Based on witnesses and Hong Kong media accounts, riot police entered a minimum of four towns in the province (Guardian, 5/22). Nearby government and police officials reached by telephone declined to comment, Reuters reports. An official from a neighboring county confirmed that the riot had taken place but refused to provide details (Reuters, 5/21).
“Reprinted with permission from http://www.kaisernetwork.org. You can view the whole Kaiser Day-to-day Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for e-mail delivery at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Day-to-day Wellness Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free service of the Henry J. Kaiser Household Foundation . ? 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.