Editing One-child policy (section)

== Criticism ==
{{criticism section|date=July 2023}}

The policy was controversial outside China for many reasons, including accusations of human rights abuses in the implementation of the policy, as well as concerns about negative social consequences.<ref name="policy outgrown">{{Cite journal |last=Hvistendahl |first=Mara |date=17 September 2010 |title=Has China Outgrown The One-Child Policy? |journal=[[Science (journal)|Science]] |volume=329 |issue=5998 |pages=1458–61 |bibcode=2010Sci...329.1458H |doi=10.1126/science.329.5998.1458 |pmid=20847244}}</ref>

===Statement of the effect of the policy on birth reduction===
The Chinese government, quoting Zhai Zhenwu, director of Renmin University's School of Sociology and Population in Beijing, estimates that 400{{nbsp}}million births were prevented by the one-child policy as of 2011, while some demographers challenge that number, putting the figure at perhaps half that level, according to CNN.{{efn|Some demographers challenge that number, putting the figure at perhaps half that level.}} Zhai clarified that the 400{{nbsp}}million estimate referred not just to the one-child policy, but includes births prevented by predecessor policies implemented one decade before, stating that "there are many different numbers out there but it doesn't change the basic fact that the policy prevented a really large number of births".<ref name=boston/>

This claim is disputed by Wang Feng, director of the Brookings-Tsinghua Center for Public Policy, and Cai Yong from the [[Carolina Population Center]] at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.<ref name=boston/> Wang argues that "Thailand and China have had almost identical fertility trajectories since the mid 1980s", and "Thailand does not have a one-child policy".<ref name="boston" />
China's Health Ministry has also disclosed that at least 336{{nbsp}}million abortions were performed on account of the policy.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Moore |first=Malcolm |date=15 March 2013 |title=336 million abortions under China's one-child policy |work=Telegraph.co.uk |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/9933468/336-million-abortions-under-Chinas-one-child-policy.html |url-status=live |access-date=5 April 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180124201624/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/9933468/336-million-abortions-under-Chinas-one-child-policy.html |archive-date=24 January 2018}}</ref>

According to a report by the US embassy, scholarship published by Chinese scholars and their presentations at the October 1997 Beijing conference of the [[International Union for the Scientific Study of Population]] seemed to suggest that market-based incentives or increasing voluntariness is not morally better but that it is, in the end, more effective.<ref>{{Cite web |date=June 1988 |title=PRC Family Planning: The Market Weakens Controls But Encourages Voluntary Limits |url=http://beijing.usembassy-china.org.cn/report0698family.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130218215046/http://beijing.usembassy-china.org.cn/report0698family.html |archive-date=18 February 2013 |publisher=U.S. Embassy in Beijing}}</ref> In 1988, Zeng Yi and Professor T. Paul Schultz of [[Yale University]] discussed the effect of the transformation to the market on Chinese fertility, arguing that the introduction of the [[Household-responsibility system|contract responsibility system]] in agriculture during the early 1980s weakened family planning controls during that period.<ref>PRC journal ''Social Sciences in China'' [Zhongguo, January 1988]{{full citation needed|date=October 2013}}</ref> Zeng contended that the "big cooking pot" system of the [[People's commune|People's Commune]]s had [[Moral hazard|insulated people from the costs]] of having many children. By the late 1980s, economic costs and incentives created by the contract system were already reducing the number of children farmers wanted.

A long-term experiment in a county in Shanxi, in which the family planning law was suspended, suggested that families would not have many more children even if the law were abolished.<ref name="NYT72212" /> A 2003 review of the policy-making process behind the adoption of the one-child policy shows that less intrusive options, including those that emphasized delay and spacing of births, were known but not fully considered by China's political leaders.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Greenhalgh, Susan |date=2003 |title=Science, Modernity, and the Making of China's One-Child Policy |url=https://webspace.utexas.edu/cmm2436/china%27s_one-child_policy.pdf |url-status=dead |journal=Population and Development Review |volume=29 |issue=June |pages=163–196 |doi=10.1111/j.1728-4457.2003.00163.x |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029205950/https://webspace.utexas.edu/cmm2436/china%27s_one-child_policy.pdf |archive-date=29 October 2013}}</ref>

===Unequal enforcement===
Corrupted government officials and especially wealthy individuals have often been able to violate the policy in spite of fines.<ref name="Chinanews" /> Filmmaker Zhang Yimou had three children and was subsequently fined 7.48{{nbsp}}million yuan ($1.2{{nbsp}}million).<ref>{{Cite news |date=10 January 2014 |title=China: Filmmaker Zhang Yimou fined $1M for breach of one-child policy - CNN.com |work=CNN |url=http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/09/world/asia/filmmaker-one-child-policy-fine/index.html |url-status=live |access-date=3 January 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151108021024/http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/09/world/asia/filmmaker-one-child-policy-fine/index.html |archive-date=8 November 2015}}</ref> For example, between 2000 and 2005, as many as 1,968 officials in Hunan province were found to be violating the policy, according to the provincial family planning commission; also exposed by the commission were 21 national and local lawmakers, 24 political advisors, 112 entrepreneurs and 6 senior intellectuals.<ref name="Chinanews">{{Cite web |date=8 July 2007 |title=Over 1,900 officials breach birth policy in C. China |url=http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2007-07/08/content_912620.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081010221929/http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2007-07/08/content_912620.htm |archive-date=10 October 2008 |access-date=11 November 2008 |website=[[Xinhua]] |quote=But heavy fines and exposures seemed to hardly stop the celebrities and rich people, as there are still many people, who can afford the heavy penalties, insist on having multiple kids, the Hunan commission spokesman said ... Three officials ... who were all found to have kept extramarital mistresses, were all convicted for charges such as embezzlement and taking bribes, but they were not punished for having more than one child.}}</ref>

Some of the offending officials did not face penalties,<ref name="Chinanews" /> although the government did respond by raising fines and calling on local officials to "expose the celebrities and high-income people who violate the family planning policy and have more than one child".<ref name="Chinanews" /> Also, people who lived in the rural areas of China were allowed to have two children without punishment, although the family is required to wait a couple of years before having another child.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Chan |first=Peggy |title=Cultures of the world China |date=2005 |publisher=Marshall Cavendish International |location=New York}}</ref>

===Human rights violations===
{{Further |Human rights in China}}
The one-child policy had been challenged for violating a [[human right]] to determine the size of one's own proper family. According to a 1968 proclamation of the International Conference on Human Rights, "Parents have a basic human right to determine freely and responsibly the number and the spacing of their children."<ref name="FREEDMAN">{{Cite journal |last1=Freedman |first1=Lynn P. |last2=Isaacs |first2=Stephen L. |date=Jan–Feb 1993 |title=Human Rights and Reproductive Choice |url=http://www.law-lib.utoronto.ca/diana/fulltext/free3.pdf |url-status=dead |journal=Studies in Family Planning |volume=24 |issue=1 |pages=18–30 |doi=10.2307/2939211 |jstor=2939211 |pmid=8475521 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029194753/http://www.law-lib.utoronto.ca/diana/fulltext/free3.pdf |archive-date=29 October 2013 |access-date=8 December 2007}}</ref><ref name="teheran_proc">{{Cite web |date=1968 |title=Proclamation of Teheran |url=http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/b_tehern.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071017025912/http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/b_tehern.htm |archive-date=17 October 2007 |access-date=8 November 2007 |publisher=International Conference on Human Rights}}</ref>

According to the UK newspaper ''[[The Daily Telegraph]]'', a quota of 20,000 abortions and sterilizations was set for [[Huaiji County]], [[Guangdong]] in one year due to reported disregard of the one-child policy. According to the article local officials were being pressured into purchasing portable ultrasound devices to identify abortion candidates in remote villages. The article also reported that women as far along as 8.5 months pregnant were forced to abort, usually by an [[Instillation abortion|injection of saline solution]].<ref name="abort">{{Cite news |last=McElroy |first=Damien |date=8 April 2001 |title=Chinese region 'must conduct 20,000 abortions' |work=[[The Telegraph (UK)|The Telegraph]] |location=London |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/1336466/Chinese-region-must-conduct-20000-abortions.html |url-status=live |access-date=5 April 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180724062555/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/1336466/Chinese-region-must-conduct-20000-abortions.html |archive-date=24 July 2018}}</ref> A 1993 book by social scientist and anti-abortion political activist [[Steven W. Mosher]] reported that women in their ninth month of pregnancy, or already in labour, were having their children killed whilst in the birth canal or immediately after birth.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Mosher |first=Steven W. |title=A Mother's Ordeal |title-link=A Mother's Ordeal |date=July 1993 |publisher=[[Harcourt (publisher)|Harcourt]] |isbn=978-0-15-162662-5}}</ref>

According to a 2005 news report by [[Australian Broadcasting Corporation]] correspondent John Taylor, China outlawed the use of physical force to make a woman submit to an abortion or sterilization in 2002 but ineffectively enforced the measure.<ref name="Taylor">{{Cite web |last=Taylor |first=John |date=8 February 2005 |title=China&nbsp;– One Child Policy |url=http://www.abc.net.au/foreign/content/2005/s1432717.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080612191059/http://www.abc.net.au/foreign/content/2005/s1432717.htm |archive-date=12 June 2008 |access-date=1 July 2008 |publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation}}</ref> In 2012, [[Forced abortion of Feng Jianmei|Feng Jianmei]], a villager from Shaanxi province, was forced into an abortion by local officials after her family refused to pay the fine for having a second child. Chinese authorities later apologized and two officials were fired, while five others were sanctioned.<ref name="autogenerated2">{{Cite news |date=6 July 2012 |title=Father in forced abortion case wants charges filed |work=The San Diego Union-Tribune |agency=Associated Press |url=https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/sdut-father-in-forced-abortion-case-wants-charges-filed-2012jul06-story.html}}</ref>

In the past, China promoted [[eugenics]] as part of its population-planning policies, but the government backed away from such policies, as evidenced by China's ratification of the [[Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities]], which compels the nation to significantly reform its genetic testing laws.<ref>{{subscription required}} {{Cite journal |title=Implications of China's Ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities |url=http://scratch.mit.edu |url-status=live |journal=China: An International Journal |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141015140001/http://muse.jhu.edu/login?uri=%2Fjournals%2Fchina%2Fv008%2F8.1.petersen.html |archive-date=15 October 2014 |access-date=12 May 2020}}</ref> Recent{{when|date=October 2013}} research has also emphasized the necessity of understanding a myriad of complex social relations that affect the meaning of [[informed consent]] in China.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Sleeboom-Faulkner |first=Margaret Elizabeth |date=1 June 2011 |title=Genetic testing, governance, and the family in the People's Republic of China |journal=Social Science & Medicine |volume=72 |issue=11 |pages=1802–9 |doi=10.1016/j.socscimed.2010.03.052 |pmid=20627498}}</ref> Furthermore, in 2003, China revised its marriage registration regulations and couples no longer have to submit to a premarital physical or genetic examination before being granted a marriage license.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Marriage Law of the People's Republic of China |work=Australia: Refugee Review Tribunal |url=http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/pdfid/4b6fe19d6.pdf |url-status=live |access-date=10 September 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111209204518/http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/pdfid/4b6fe19d6.pdf |archive-date=9 December 2011}}</ref>

The [[United Nations Population Fund]]'s (UNFPA) support for family planning in China, which had been associated in the United States with the one-child policy, led the [[United States Congress|U.S. Congress]] to pull out of the UNFPA during the Reagan administration,<ref name="autogenerated1">{{Cite web |last=Moore |first=Stephen |date=9 May 1999 |title=Don't Fund UNFPA Population Control |url=http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=5457 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071021012806/http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=5457 |archive-date=21 October 2007 |access-date=27 October 2007 |website=[[CATO Institute]]}}</ref> and again under [[George W. Bush]]'s presidency, citing human rights abuses<ref>{{Cite news |last=McElroy |first=Damien |date=3 February 2002 |title=China is furious as Bush halts UN 'abortion' funds |work=The Telegraph |location=London |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/1383627/China-is-furious-as-Bush-halts-UN-abortion-funds.html |url-status=live |access-date=5 April 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181028151703/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/1383627/China-is-furious-as-Bush-halts-UN-abortion-funds.html |archive-date=28 October 2018}}</ref> and stating that the right to "found a family" was protected under the [[Universal Declaration of Human Rights#Preamble|Preamble]] in the [[Universal Declaration of Human Rights]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Siv |first=Sichan |date=21 January 2003 |title=United Nations Fund for Population Activities in China |publisher=U.S. Department of State |url=https://2001-2009.state.gov/p/io/rls/rm/2003/16790.htm |url-status=live |access-date=22 May 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171117080604/https://2001-2009.state.gov/p/io/rls/rm/2003/16790.htm |archive-date=17 November 2017}}</ref> [[Barack Obama]] resumed U.S. government financial support for the UNFPA shortly after taking office in 2009, intending to "work collaboratively to reduce poverty, improve the health of women and children, prevent [[HIV/AIDS]] and provide [[family planning]] assistance to women in 154 countries".<ref>{{Cite web |date=29 January 2009 |title=UNFPA Welcomes Restoration of U.S. Funding |url=http://www.unfpa.org/public/News/pid/1562 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140709160012/http://www.unfpa.org/public/News/pid/1562 |archive-date=9 July 2014 |access-date=24 January 2019 |website=UNFPA News}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Rizvi |first=Haider |date=12 March 2009 |title=Obama Sets New Course at the U.N. |url=http://www.ipsnews.net/2009/03/politics-obama-sets-new-course-at-the-un/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029211013/http://www.ipsnews.net/2009/03/politics-obama-sets-new-course-at-the-un/ |archive-date=29 October 2013 |access-date=28 October 2013 |website=IPS News |publisher=Inter Press Agency}}</ref>

===Effect on infanticide rates===
Sex-selective abortion, abandonment, and [[infanticide]] are illegal in China. Nevertheless, the [[United States Department of State|US Department of State]],<ref>{{Cite news |title=US State Department position |agency=Associated Press |url=http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/27-12142004-416868.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070226032823/http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/27-12142004-416868.html |archive-date=26 February 2007}}</ref> the [[Parliament of the United Kingdom]],<ref>{{Cite web |title=Human Rights in China and Tibet |url=https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld199697/ldhansrd/vo961218/text/61218-08.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171206145022/https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld199697/ldhansrd/vo961218/text/61218-08.htm |archive-date=6 December 2017 |access-date=7 September 2017 |publisher=[[Parliament of the United Kingdom]]}}</ref> and the human rights organization Amnesty International<ref>{{Cite web |last=Amnesty International |title=Violence Against Women&nbsp;– an introduction to the campaign |url=http://www.amnesty.ie/content/view/full/1683/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061009055656/http://www.amnesty.ie/content/view/full/1683/ |archive-date=9 October 2006}}</ref> have all declared that infanticide still exists.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Mosher |first=Steve |author-link=Steve Mosher (social scientist) |date=1986 |title=Steve Mosher's China report |work=The Interim |url=http://www.theinterim.com/issues/abortion/steve-mosher%E2%80%99s-china-report/ |url-status=live |access-date=12 February 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190828224837/http://www.theinterim.com/issues/abortion/steve-mosher%E2%80%99s-china-report/ |archive-date=28 August 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2010 |title=Infanticide Statistics: Infanticide in China |url=http://www.allgirlsallowed.org/infanticide-china-statistics |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121101014043/http://www.allgirlsallowed.org/infanticide-china-statistics |archive-date=1 November 2012 |access-date=12 February 2013 |website=[[All Girls Allowed]]}}</ref> A writer for the ''[[Georgetown Journal of International Affairs]]'' wrote, "The 'one-child' policy has also led to what Amartya Sen first called 'Missing Women', or the 100{{nbsp}}million girls 'missing' from the populations of China (and other developing countries) as a result of female infanticide, abandonment, and neglect".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Steffensen |first=Jennifer |title=Georgetown Journal's Guide to the 'One-Child' Policy |url=http://journal.georgetown.edu/2012/04/25/georgetown-journals-guide-to-the-one-child-policy/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131102120646/http://journal.georgetown.edu/2012/04/25/georgetown-journals-guide-to-the-one-child-policy/ |archive-date=2 November 2013 |access-date=30 September 2013}}</ref>

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation offered the following summary as to the long-term effects of [[sex-selective abortion]] and abandonment of female infants:

{{Blockquote|Multiple research studies have also found that sex-selective abortion – where a woman undergoes an ultrasound to determine the sex of her baby, and then aborts it if it's a girl – was widespread for years, particularly for second or subsequent children. Millions of female fetuses have been aborted since the 1970s. China outlawed sex selective abortions in 2005, but the law is tough to enforce because of the difficulty of proving why a couple decided to have an abortion. The abandonment, and killing, of baby girls has also been reported, though recent research studies say it has become rare, in part due to strict criminal prohibitions.<ref name="cbc.ca" />}}

Anthropologist [[G. William Skinner]] at the [[University of California, Davis]] and Chinese researcher Yuan Jianhua have claimed that infanticide was fairly common in China before the 1990s.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Lubman |first=Sarah |date=15 March 2000 |title=Experts Allege Infanticide In China — 'Missing' Girls Killed, Abandoned, Pair Say |work=[[San Jose Mercury News]] |location=[[California|CA]]}}</ref>