One Child Policy Pros and Cons List

The one child policy has been popularized due to China’s 30 year ban. As the country starts to age rapidly, this controversial law has caused many advantages and shortcomings since its implementation. Has its originating impact been made to benefit the nation or has it caused more devastation? Here is a look at the pros and cons of the one child policy.

The Pros to the One Child Policy

1. Lower the poverty level in China.
In many areas of the country, over population has become a main issue that often brings with it social setbacks such as financial hardship and poverty. To try and limit the poverty level, as well as look out for the population amounts that are rising, the government stepped in with family planning laws to help eradicate poverty.

2. Lower the population level in China.
The population in China is always rising and it has become an important issue with the Chinese government to try and keep the population numbers from rising too dramatically. In doing this, they are limiting poverty levels, allowing for more economic growth amongst the country.

3. Lower the fertility rate.
In the mid 1980’s many Chinese families had five or more children, a staggering number with how many people already inhabit this area. Now, 25 years later, the number has dropped to an average of 2-3 children per family. While still not the ideal number the government has, the staggering increase in population has slowed from this policy.

The Cons to the One Child Policy

1. Forced abortions and forced outside adoptions.
While many feel that it is against human rights to impose a limit to the size one can have on their family, the government has implemented this to help families. Many people are opposed to this law though and feel that the number should be changed to two at a minimum. Many women, sadly, are forced into abortion of their children or if they do have a child, are often forced to give up their child for adoption. The policy was partially designed to stop this travesty from happening.

2. Outside birth tourism.
This term refers to having children overseas. Many women who are faced with abortion or giving up their child once it has been born often turn to having their children in other countries to escape losing their child. Many have fled to Hong Kong, which is exempt from the One Child Policy. While Hong Kong allows for this to happen and offers women a chance to save their children, the costs to have births for women who have fled here has drastically increased.

3. There are other ways to accomplish the same ideal.
What we mean by this is that there are other alternatives to only allowing one child. Many people have suggested a span of time between births to allow for more than one child. Some have suggested that an eight to ten year age difference would allow for the population rise to slow down while allowing people to still have more than one child and allowing for a larger family. While it is practiced in some parts of China, it has yet to become a part of the governmental policies.