Selective abortions to be outlawed in China?

Story dated 18 January 2005

China only allows one child per family. Sons are more highly prized than girls in China, thus familys like to get the unborn child sexed and, if not a boy, abort it and try again. This has led to an imbalanced population with 20% more men than women. "[t]he government wishes to eliminate this imbalance and therefore his committee will "begin a review of the Penal Law to effectively prohibit the determination of the sex of the fetus." They are also looking into outlawing selective abortions. In my opinion, the Chinese government is just a bunch of cowards on this issue. They created this situation with their population restriction; they just refuse to admit it. At this point, the only effective remedy would be to completely remove the restrictions. Also they are not overpopulated -- well, not by Japanese standards. Japan is much more densely populated in China and their government is trying to encourage families to have more children. This is good news for me. I am of the opinion that gender imbalances in the population can create a warlike culture. Where women are a limited commodity, excess men have nothing to do except join up with other single men and engage in warlike behavior. China has a huge military and more men than women. A war would alleviate tension at home. That China is taking steps to correct the imbalance is an indication they may not be as belligerent as I had feared. However, it will still take 16 years minimum before the imbalance is fixed, and that's assuming the next generation of children has more women than men.

posted by The Sovereign Editor | 3:25 PM

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