The sex ratios between male and female babies in China varies significantly depending upon the birth order. For example, in 1989 the sex ratio for first births was 104.9 males per 100 females which is within the normal range. For second births, the sex ratio was 120.9, for third births it was 124.6, and for fourth or more births it was 131.7. The reported sex ratio at parity 2 and above showed an increasing trend throughout the 1980s. Reported sex ratios among Chinese women are higher in rural areas and among women with an agricultural occupation. The use of high resolution ultrasound machines (which are readily available throughout China) and other techniques such as amniocentesis and chorionic sampling for prenatal sex identification has been banned by government regulations. However, the existence of a strong son preference and the option of the "back door" make it difficult to enforce these regulations. Some medical personnel disregarding these regulations, illegally use technology for prenatal sex determination because they cannot turn down the request of a relative or friend, or cannot resist the temptation of money or gifts. The technician can determine the sex of the fetus without writing it down on the lab report. A prearranged signal with the pregnant woman such as a frown or a nod of the head is sufficient.
The sex ratio of fetuses based on a large representative sample is unavailable since the sex of the fetus is not recorded following most abortions in China. A project on surveillance for birth defects in eight provinces and cities by Beijing Medical University reported sex ratios of 94.6 and 96.8 indicating more females than males were aborted among 500 and 1226 aborted fetuses whose sex was identifiable in rural and urban areas respectively. The sex ratio for aborted fetuses whose sex was identifiable is significantly lower than the normal fetal sex ratio which exceeds 106. The plausible explanation is that some of the pregnant women underwent prenatal sex identification and sex-selective abortion.26
Another study based on medical records of 1,243,284 pregnancies after the 28th week of gestation in a large project for surveillance of birth defects at 945 hospitals in 29 provinces was conducted by Western China Medical University and Beijing Medical University from October, 1986 to September, 1987. This large-scale hospital-based project continued until the end of 1991. The sex ratios for live births delivered in 1988 through 1991 were 108.0, 108.3, 109.1, and 109.7. These births could not be under-reported because all were delivered at a hospital and recorded by a doctor or nurse. Infanticide by parents or other family members was also impossible in a hospital setting. Therefore, the plausible explanation for such a high sex ratio based upon large numbers of large births, is that some of the women had undergone induced abortion after prenatal sex identification. The increase in the sex ratio of live births delivered in hospitals, from 108.0 in 1986-87 to 109.7 in 1991, indicates that prenatal sex determination by high resolution ultrasound and other diagnostic techniques, has become increasingly prevalent and should be taken seriously.27
A primary reason for sex selection abortion appears to be the preference for male children. This has been a fundamental aspect of Chinese society, supported by both pragmatism and ideology. In China, elderly parents are supposed to be taken care of by their oldest son. Particularly in rural areas, no son means a miserable and destitute old age, as there will be little or no welfare assistance from the state. Further, dying without a male heir was, according to Confucius, one of the three most important unmet obligations of a child to a parent. Carrying on the male line, and continuing the family name is still of paramount importance, and only a son is able to do that.28
The birth of a daughter and not a son can have important social consequences. A study published in 1988 of young women in a rural area aged 20-30 whose first child had been a girl found that 81% of the mothers were unhappy to have given birth to a girl; all husbands were reported to be depressed about it and constantly complained; 60% of the husbands acted in a cold and unfriendly way to their wives; 55% verbally abused their wives; 30% beat their wives; and 28% of the husbands wanted a divorce. Mothers-in-law also were involved: 80% reportedly treated their daughter-in-law coldly; 58% verbally abused their daughter-in-law, and 9.4% beat them. Neighbors also were unpleasant, with 83% of the mothers reporting that neighbors said vicious and unpleasant things. As a result, 85% of the mothers felt depressed, 67% said they suffered from nervous exhaustion or prolonged mental strain, and 81% had lost weight.29
Others studies have found that sex selection has caused a considerable imbalance between eligible unmarried males and unmarried females in certain areas of China. For example, in Zhejiang province there are reportedly 860,000 males aged 22 and above, but only 360,000 unmarried females of the same age group. And a rural county in Henan province had a sex ratio of 167:100 among 20-25 year olds in favor of men. It was concluded that at the end of the century there will be about 90 million Chinese bachelors which is 1/14th of the total Chinese population.30
There is evidence that the incidence of late term abortions has been substantial, at least in some parts of China. Some figures have been provided by birth planning officials. For example, of the 624,000 abortions performed in Guangdong Province in 1982, 80% were carried out under orders, and one-third of these were on women in their 6th-9th month of gestation.31 In another rural commune it was reported that 252 of the 587 abortions performed in 1980 were "big month" pregnancies i.e. past the fifth month. Most of these were reportedly done to prevent the birth of a third child.32 In another study of women in Shijiacun, one out of eight women who had married in the 1970s had suffered the trauma of a second or third trimester abortion by 1987.33
There is reason to believe that the incidence of late term abortions has been reduced in recent years.34 However, a former family planning official for the Yonghe Town in Jinjiang Municipality, Fujian Province testified before a U.S. House of Representatives committee in 1998 that between January-September, 1996 a total of 757 surgeries were performed in this town. These surgeries included 256 sterilizations, 386 ring-device insertions, 41 induced abortions of less than three months gestation (artificial abortions), and 71 induced abortions of more than three months gestation which is known as induced delivery.35
Thus, one reason for the possible reduction of the incidence of abortion may be increased reliance on sterilization or other contraceptive devices.The greater utilization of sterilization and ring insertions compared to induced abortions in this 1996 study is noteworthy. The ring device insertions are reported to be the main IUD used in China. It is a stainless steel ring with no string attached which was purposely designed so that women could not remove it themselves. The absence of a string means that its location cannot be checked except by xrays and ultrasound, thus subjecting women to unnecessary medical interventions by government cadres.36 It was further reported that 75% of the women in this town had already been sterilized. Thus, there would be substantially fewer women on which abortions could be performed. The fact that the number of second or third trimester abortions is substantially higher than first trimester abortions indicates that late term abortions are most likely being utilized to enforce governmental birth policies. Recent press reports involving a Chinese woman in an advanced stage of pregnancy who was refused asylum in Australia, and returned to China where she was forced to undergo an abortion, indicate that the problem of late term abortions in China to enforce their birth policy still exists.37
It is clear that induced abortion has had an important role in the population control efforts of the Chinese government. Additional moral and ethical problems including a high incidence of repeat abortions, coerced abortions, sex selection abortions, and late term abortions have arisen as a result of the policy . These may originally have been unintended (some would say necessary) consequences arising out of the belief of many people that technological solutions can be found to solve any conceivable problem. In this instance, the Chinese government appears to be attempting to find the most efficient birth control techniques (including induced abortion) in order to carry out its population control policy. This creates the technological imperative: What can be done must be done! The French philosopher and theologian Jacques Ellul, has identified modern technique as a form of idolatry. He observes that "Technique worships nothing (and) respects nothing".38 Clearly, there is no respect for the sanctity of human life in the womb. Nor is there a respect for the dignity of the woman, or her marriage or family life. Harsh, oppressive, and invasive techniques are employed to attempt to carry out the policy and coercive methods may be employed against the woman as well as her husband, family members and co-workers.
Nor is there a respect for the rule of law. The rules or policies are subject to change if pressure is applied either from within the country or outside the country. Some aspects appear contradictory. For example, the Chinese constitution guarantees to the woman the right to bear a child. Yet other laws, rules, or policies require couples to practice family planning or require abortion for genetic reasons. The population policy is independent of court, judicial or public security institutions. This makes it more likely that it could be applied in an arbitrary or capricious manner, or that it could be subject to various types of manipulation.39
The Darwinian philosophy of the "survival of the fittest" appears to be an important driving force to develop the most efficient techniques of birth control. This is most evident by the extensive use of eugenics. It is also evident in the destruction of human life in the womb because of their particularly helpless and vulnerable condition. The ultimate question is not only the destruction of the child in the womb but the loss of humanity itself. C.S. Lewis called the technicians of the new age "men without chests" and warned that, "the man-moulders will be armed with the powers of an omnicompetent state and an irresistible scientific technique... but man's final conquest has proven to be the abolition of man."40 Thus, there is a very high price being paid by China's population control policies.
I Determinants of Induced Abortion and Their Policy Implications in Four Counties in North China, T Ping and HL Smith, Studies in Family Planning 26(5):278, Sept/Oct 1995 citing Population Policy and Demographic Prospects in the People's Republic of China, John Aird, National Institute of Health and Human Development: Bethesda, MD (1972) [Back]
2 Characteristics of Women Having Abortion in China, VC Li et al, Soc. Sci. Med. 31(4):445, 1990 [Back]
3 Reproductive Rights and Wrongs. The Global Politics of Population Control, Betsy Hartmann, 1995, p. 163 [Back]
4 Western eyes on China's eugenics law, The Lancet 346 (8968):131, July 15, 1995 [Back]
5 China Stops Coercive Sterilization Law, The Pro-Life Infonet August 19, 1998 citing The Washington Post [Back]
6 Essential medical services still undetermined and more Chinese spin, S Mosher, Population Research Institute Review 8(4), July/Oct 1998 [Back]
7 Determinants of Induced Abortion and Their Policy Implications in Four Counties in North China, T Ping, HL Smith, Studies in Family Planning 26(5):278, 1995 citing A Note on the numbers of induced abortions and averted births, Y Zeng, China Population Today 3:9-11, 1991 [Back]
8 Fertility Policy and Implementation in China, 1986-88, Karen Hardee-Cleaveland and Judith Banister, Population and Development Rev 14(2):245, June, 1988 [Back]
9 The Incidence of Abortion Worldwide, S Henshaw et al, Int'l Family Planning Perspectives, January, 1999, p. S34 [Back]
10 China's Changing Population. J Banister,1987, p. 180, 221 [Back]
11 Induced Abortion in Eight Provinces of China, Y Wang et al, Asia-Pacific Journal of Public Health 5(1): 32, 1991 [Back]
12 A Follow-up Study of First Trimester Induced Abortions at Hospitals and Family Planning Clinics in Sichuan Province, China, L Luo et al, Contraception 53:267, 1996 [Back]
13 Determinants of Induced Abortion and Their Policy Implications in Four Counties in North China, T Ping and HL Smith, Studies in Family Planning 28(5):278,1995 [Back]
14 Induced Abortion in Eight Provinces of China, Y Wang et al, Asia-Pacific Journal of Public Health 5(1): 32,1991 [Back]
15 Characteristics of Women Having Abortion in China, VC Li et al, Soc. Sci. Med. 31(4): 445,1990 [Back]
16 Abortion Law and Practice in China: An Overview with Comparisons to the United States, Susan M. Rigdon, Soc. Sci. Med. 42(4):543,1996; Effects on women's health of complications from artificially induced abortion, CL Li et al, Peking University Hospital. Paper presented at the 1st International Women's Studies Conference of Peking University, November 23-26, 1992 (Abstract) [Back]
17 Contraceptive practices of women requesting termination of pregnancy: a study from China, Y Cheng et al, Contraception 55(1): 15, Jan 1997 [Back]
18 Determinants of contraceptive method choice after first delivery, before first abortion, and after first abortion in east China, J Gu and MJ Campbell, Contraception 47(6): 539, June, 1993 [Back]
19 Reducing pregnancy and induced abortion rates in China: family planning with husband participation CC Wang et al, Am J Public Health 88(4): 646, April, 1998 [Back]
20 China Still Using, Coercive, Late Term Abortions,The Pro-Life Infonet, August 3, 1999 citing The Age (Australia), August 4, 1999 [Back]
21 Effect of Induced Abortion on Women's Psychological Pressure and Choice and Shift for Contraceptive Methods, Zhenz Xiaoying et al, paper presented at the 1st International Women's Studies Conference of Peking University, November 23-26, 1992 (Abstract) [Back]
22 Induced Abortion in Eight Provinces of China, Y Wang et al, Asian-Pacific Journal of Public Health 5(1):32, 1991 [Back]
23 A Follow-up Study of First Trimester Induced Abortions at Hospitals and Family Planning Clinics in Sichuan Province, China, L Luo et al, Contraception 53:267, 1996 [Back]
24 Induced Abortion Among Unmarried Women in Sichuan Province, China, L Lin et al, Contraception 51 :59, 1995 [Back]
25 Fertility Policy and Implementation in China, 1986-88, Karen Hardee Cleaveland and Judith Banister, Population and Development Review 14(2):245, June 1988 [Back]
26 Causes and Implications of the Recent Increase in the Reported Sex Ratio at Birth in China, Zeng Yi et al, Population and Development Review 19(2): 283, June, 1993 [Back]
28 Goods on Which One Loses: Women and Mental Health in China, Veronica Pearson, Soc. Sci. Med. 41(8): 1159, 1995 [Back]
29 A Probe into the mentality of sixty-five rural young women giving birth to baby girls, JH Zhou, China Sociol. Anthropol., Spring 93, 1988 [Back]
30 Female infanticide will lead to an army of bachelors, Graham Hutchings, London Telegraph (U.K.) April 11, 1997 [Back]
31 China's Changing Population. Judith Banister, 1987, p.208 [Back]
32 Revolution Postponed. Margery Wolf, 1985, p.245 [Back]
33 Controlling Births and Bodies in Village China, Susan Greenlaugh, American Ethnologist 21(1):1994, p.23 [Back]
34 Abortion Law and Practice in China: An Overview with Comparisons to the United States, Susan Rigdon, Soc. Sci. Med 42(4):543, 1996 [Back]
35 Witness to the persecution: Family planning official defects, comes forward, Population Research Institute Review. May/June 1998, p.11-12 [Back]
36 Reproductive Rights and Wrongs. The Global Politics of Population Control, Betsy Hartmann, 1995, p. 164 [Back]
37 China Still Using Coercive, Late-Term Abortions, The Pro-Life Infonet, August 3, 1999 citing The Age (Australia), August 4, 1999 [Back]
38 The Technological Society. Jacques Ellul, 1964, p. 142 (Ellul defines technique as the translation into action of the concern to master things by means of reason, to account for what is sub-conscious, to make quantitative what is qualitative, make clear and precise the outlines of nature, take hold of chaos and put order into it.) Id at p.43; see also Technological Themes in the Abortion Debate, William C. Hunt in When Life and Choice Collide, Ed. David Mall, 1994 [Back]
39 See generally The Morality of Law, Lon Fuller, 1964, 1969 [Back]
40 The Abolition of Man. C.S. Lewis, 1947, p.73, 77 [Back]
1, 2,