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Topic: About Time or a step backward? China to outlaw aborting female fetuses

Anchoress
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 4650

posted 07 January 2005 02:43 PM

BEIJING - China intends to make it a criminal offence to abort a female fetus, hoping to correct a major imbalance in the ratio of boys to girls born in the country.

quote:
China's population officially hit 1.3 billion on Thursday.

From: Vancouver babblers' meetup July 9 @ Cafe Deux Soleil! | Registered: Nov 2003 | IP: Logged

Sara Mayo
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 3714

posted 07 January 2005 03:06 PM

It's not clear from the story whether gender testing will be outlawed or aborting female fetuses (or both).

quote:
Friday the commission will draft legal amendments to outlaw procedures designed to determine the gender of a fetus, since this leads to selective abortion in many cases.

Personally, I think the practice is abhorent, so I don't see it as a step backward to prevent parents from choosing the sex of their fetus. But the best way to prevent it is not through complex (and difficult to enforce) laws, but through changing the inherent sexism in society. Once girls are as valued as boys, there will be no longer be pressure on parents to abort their female fetuses.

From: "Highways are monuments to inequality" - Enrique Penalosa | Registered: Feb 2003 | IP: Logged

DrConway
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 490

posted 07 January 2005 03:08 PM

China, I think, has been trying to do this (Change ingrained sexism), but it's a difficult row to hoe and the simpler solution has obviously been to just ban the practice of female infanticide and now to ban gender-selective abortions.

From: You shall not side with the great against the powerless. | Registered: May 2001 | IP: Logged

Gir Draxon
leftist-rightie and rightist-leftie
Babbler # 3804

posted 08 January 2005 01:09 AM

Well...

Anti-abortion legislation does not work here because women will still do it, just in more dangerous ways. However, we live in a free society. Perhaps in China women are more inclined to obey the government. I certainly agree with trying to eliminate gender-based abortion/infanticide, I just don't know what the ramifications of such a law would be in a country like China...

From: Arkham Asylum | Registered: Feb 2003 | IP: Logged

ShyViolet
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 6611

posted 08 January 2005 01:14 AM

quote:
Originally posted by Gir Draxon:
Well...
Anti-abortion legislation does not work here because women will still do it, just in more dangerous ways. However, we live in a free society. Perhaps in China women are more inclined to obey the government. I certainly agree with trying to eliminate gender-based abortion/infanticide, I just don't know what the ramifications of such a law would be in a country like China...

oh, i don't think it's that they're more inclined to obey... basically if you do not abort, they will (a) kill the baby or (b) cut you off from your family and friends or (c) turn your family, friends, and co workers against you.

if you read a mother's ordeal, you'll see what i mean....

From: ~Love is like pi: natural, irrational, and very important~ | Registered: Aug 2004 | IP: Logged

peppermint
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 7221

posted 08 January 2005 11:25 AM

That article is strangely written. I can't imagine passing a law making it illegal to abort female fetuses and not male ones... I suspect what they mean is that it will become illegal to tell the parents the gender of the child.

They've had that policy here in Korea for some time now, but I still notice that I have classes where the male to female ratio is 3:2. Besides, like many laws here it's all very wink,wink nudge, nudge.

I think the whole one child policy, while making sense in a lot of ways, will have some serious and unforseen consequences. From what I hear, the children of this generation are growing up unbelievably spoiled and surely it will be difficult for them to support so many older family members. As well, the male female imbalance makes it difficult for men to find a wife, and that can lead to all sorts of ugliness.

From: Korea | Registered: Oct 2004 | IP: Logged

Hailey
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 6438

posted 08 January 2005 11:32 AM

Shy violet, how are you enjoying that book?

From: candyland | Registered: Jul 2004 | IP: Logged

ShyViolet
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 6611

posted 08 January 2005 05:04 PM

quote:
Originally posted by Hailey:
Shy violet, how are you enjoying that book?

oh, it was hard to put down.... i finished it in about a day and a half! it's kinda scary, you know, the lengths they would go to in order to make sure each family had only one kid...

the part that sticks out most in my mind was the part where one family killed their female toddler b/c they thought the baby the mom was carrying would be a son. that bothered me....

it was a very interesting book! thanks for suggesting it!

From: ~Love is like pi: natural, irrational, and very important~ | Registered: Aug 2004 | IP: Logged

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