One Kid to Rule them All

Hello reader. I was recently made aware of something and found myself horrified that this is not more present as an issue. Everyone has heard of China's one-child policy, which is intended to slow urban population growth by restricting married urban couples from having more than one child. The policy is enforced by the threat of fines, which scale up based on the family income.

The Economist published this article in their most current issue, presenting a new problem:

http://www.economist.com/node/18988496?story_id=18988496&CFID=167853965&CFTOKEN=39790951

How this is not the most pressing issue on the minds of those who champion human rights is beyond me. Or, if it is, then what is beyond me is how it is that we as a global community are just finding out. I am filled with questions. What is being done? Who is being held accountable? And how long will this be allowed to continue?

I would like to say a few words to explain my view on this subject. The Committee on the One-Child Policy has said that only 36% of the population is subject to the law's restrictions. However I want to bring up some concerns that immediately occur to me, and I invite you, dear reader, to weigh in, perhaps with your own experiences ad anecdotes, as I seek to learn more on this topic.

First is the logic behind the policy. Economically speaking, the Malthusian view of the world as having limited resources increasing linearly as population increases exponentially simply is not true thanks to technological development. This means that as far as I can tell it is doubtful that the kinds of famines that plagued the country in previous years should necessarily happen again if the policy was repealed, given China's growth both economically and technologically.
There is an important economic consequence of such a policy as well. As the population ages, only children will be forced to provide care, directly or indirectly, to both their parents, and to any grandparents. Even with the exception implemented in 2009 that allows parents to have two children if they were only children themselves, it will still place an unnecessary burden on the older generations who will be forced to depend on retirement funding or charity, in an economic environment that could have supported a larger young labor force.
Because boys tend to be more economically productive than girls when it comes to primary financial support, there is a warped incentive to have a boy as the only child in the family. The State Population and Family Planning Commission estimates that there will be 30 million more young men than girls by 2020. What is most alarming to me is that the one-child policy incentivizes sex-selective abortions, under-reporting of female births, and even infanticide, despite these practices being illegal.

I am sure that you can imagine other potential consequences of having a growing urban population with an aggravated gender disparity being propagated by such a policy. I want to mention briefly the human rights aspect. I believe that no matter the place, a government has a responsibility to its people. That responsibility is to maintain a functional state to procure the safety of its people and to enable these same people to exercise their freedom. This policy is an abomination for restricting the rights of these people to determine what is their own social and economic best interest in considering family size. Furthermore, a government that takes children away and sells them to foreigners for money is something that is not only wrong, it is inhuman. If growing populations and resource constraints are really such a problem for China today, I believe the government has a duty to itself and to its people to come up with another solution. Under no circumstances should a person's dignity be violated, specially not a newborn child. The very idea of someone coming in and separating a mother from her second, third, or fourth child should be appalling to all of us. I am sure that foreign couples coming to adopt in China would be horrified is they learned of the way these children ended up at the orphanages.

The United Nations Population Fund is responsible for part of the funding for this program, and the government of the United States has refused to contribute to it because of this. President Obama resumed contributions in 2009 with the admirable goal of contributing to the reduction of poverty, the improvement of health for women and children, and the promotion of family planning. However it is my view that UNFPA should cease its support for this abhorrent policy immediately. The richest country in the world should not be forced to help those in need while supporting such a violation of major human rights.

I would also like to see more outcry, specially given what is going on now, from international organizations and specially religious groups. Where is the Pope? What does he, as the leader of the Christian faith, have to say about this practice, which so clearly opposes God? Communities across the world, religious and otherwise, should join hands in shining a light unto this injustice, and making sure that it ends soon.

Let me know what you think by commenting below, and if you have been to China or are Chinese yourself, I'd really appreciate your perspective on this issue. Thank you.