China's One Child Policy

On Sunday Mornings, it appears, that no matter where in the US it may be, my favorite radio station will have some form of "Talk Radio." I was listening to Hawaiian105.com and part of the discussion was on China's One Child Policy. The talking head went on to say that if China had not instituted a One Child Policy, there population would be greater by the population currently found in the United States.

This gave me pause to reflect on my feelings on China's One Child Policy. That many more people in China, if it wasn't for the One Child Policy, would have overrun the country. But, does that make China's One Child Policy a good thing? I don't think so.

For starters, because of Chinese culture, males are valued over females. When a Chinese Female marries a Chinese Male, she moves to her husband's family home. The male is expected to live in the family home in order to take care of his parents as they age. Due to the One Child Policy, China now has a generation of young adults where there are more males than females.

Since males are valued over females, and families are only allowed one child, when a couple are expecting a baby, they will use whatever options are available to them to determine the sex of the child. If it is a female baby, they will choose an abortion, with plans to try again for the coveted male child.

Abortion is a touchy subject, but no matter where you stand on this issue, having an abortion because you are having a baby of the wrong sex is simply wrong. To me, this is the same as having an abortion because the baby I am expecting will have brown hair instead of blond hair or blue eyes instead of brown eyes. Yes, there is no technology in place to determine a baby's hair color or eye color prior to birth, but if that technology were in place, would it make it acceptable to abort a baby for having the wrong hair or eye color? No, it would still be wrong, in the same way that aborting female babies is wrong.

What about the Chinese families that did not have the means to determine their babies sex prior to birth, who have a Female baby at birth? Well, here in the Denver Metro area, I have seen the results of the One Child Policy in the amount of little Chinese girls who are adopted into a Caucasian family. The Chinese family gave the Female Baby up for adoption at birth.

This could be viewed as an advantage to us, here in the United States, of China's One Child Policy in that couples who are willing to adopt internationally, can adopt a little Chinese baby from China. Personally, I enjoy seeing these little Chinese girls here in the Denver Metro area, because they remind me of being in Hawai'i. While I am not Chinese, I enjoy seeing these little Asian children for they look more like me and I feel like less of a minority when in their company. But, I digress.

I am opposed to China's One Child Policy. Would the country have been overrun with people? Who knows, but somehow I don't think this would have happened.