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| China-Japan-Koreas |
| China Outlawing Selective Abortions |
| 2005-01-08 |
| China is planning to make selective abortions of female fetuses illegal as a way to close the widening gap between the number of boys and girls in the country, the official Xinhua News Agency said. "The government takes it as an urgent task to correct the gender imbalance of newborns," Zhang Weiqing, minister of National Population and Family Planning Commission, was quoted as saying Thursday by Xinhua. Traditionally, sons have been more valued as a way for the family name to continue and as a means for parents to be cared for as they get older. Government figures show 119 boys are born in China for every 100 girls - a gap blamed largely on parents aborting baby girls to try again for a boy under the country's one-child policy. Zhang said the commission would begin drafting revisions to the criminal law "to effectively ban fetus gender detection and selective abortion other than for legitimate medical purposes." The central government hopes to even out the imbalance by 2010, Xinhua said. ... And for those generations where the imbalance was an economic choice imposed by the one-child rule - uh, tough shit. No |
| Posted by:.com |
| #6 Steve, I have two friends who adopted Chinese baby girls. The orphanages are indeed well run and the children well cared for. As you say, they don't get enough individual attention but I believe that is a result of overcrowding in the orphanages. |
| Posted by: Deacon Blues 2005-01-08 5:57:20 PM |
| #5 I have good friends who have adopted baby girls from China (they're known in the adoptive parent communities as "Her Imperial Highness"). We considered it ourselves. From the reports my friends have given me, adopting in Shanghai or Canton turns out to be very interesting. High points: -- the system is actually fairly honest, as the ChiComs have a solution for bribery -- they shot a few corrupt officials. -- the orphanges formerly were in sad shape, but now are pretty decent. The children there get care, but it isn't very personalized. Most of the kids need more holding than they get. -- the orphanage workers and officials seem to be genuinely happy to have American parents adopting these children. |
| Posted by: Steve White 2005-01-08 1:48:58 PM |
| #4 "Diamond Age," here we come. Or at least an equivalent of the Taiping Rebellion, if they can't get those numbers evened out soon. |
| Posted by: Asedwich 2005-01-08 12:41:41 PM |
| #3 I'm sure the |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2005-01-08 11:28:09 AM |
| #2 Maybe a bit off topic, but....I wonder if that means there's going to be more baby girls up for adoption as "abandoned kids"? |
| Posted by: Desert Blondie 2005-01-08 11:02:39 AM |
| #1 Lets see how well they can enforce this. I am not going to hold my breath. One solution I have already floated is more coal mining. That seems to reduce some of the surplus male population. |
| Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom 2005-01-08 7:01:45 AM |