Abortion on decree -- the reality

We don't hear much about Zero Population Growth these days. That's because Malthus' gloomy predictions of mass starvation due to overpopulation were wrong. And birth rates have fallen dramatically in the "civilized" first world because of the widespread availability of cheap and reliable birth control. People in Europe and North America are choosing not to have as many children.

But what about the rest of the world? Besides promoting "planned parenthood", some countries have taken more drastic measures to reduce the number of births. India has used forced sterilization. And China persists in its notorious and widely reviled "one child policy". Forced sterilization is part of that. So is forced abortion -- "retroactive birth control" by order of the godless communist state.

What follows is a dialogue* between Tim Ward, an American traveller and writer, and a Shanghai medical student whose name is only given as "Zhou".

"At least the one-child-per-family policy is one thing that really works," [I said].

"You say so?" Zhou shot me a hard glance. "You know the main method of Chinese birth control?... Abortion is the number-one method in China. As a student-doctor, I am required to perform ten abortions every day. We have no choice."

He looked down at his stubby fingers. "The first time I was frightened. When they brought in the woman, I jumped back."

"Jumped back? Why?"

"Because of the screaming. They had to drag her in, kicking and twisting, and tie her down. Now it's not so bad. You get used to it, when you do it ten times every day."

"My God, Zhou -- you mean some women are foced to have abortions? That's inhuman!"

"Some? About ninety-five percent! They are treated like animals. It is our policy. Many women hide their pregnancies. But eventually they are discovered. They have broken the law, not reporting it, and so they are treated like criminals.

"But it's worse for unmarried women. These women are especially afraid of being caught because they have already broken the law by having sex. For them, the government has a special torture. We are forbidden to waste anesthetic on them. 'Teach them a lesson,' the state orders us. 'Then next time they will learn to push the man away.' Tell me, do you think this is an admirable policy?"

"Do many women come back?" I asked numbly. My stomach had gone cold.

"Yes, I see many unmarried women back a second or third time, screaming and howling.... This is what it is to be a doctor in China."

Some readers may recall a rather large fuss being made about seven months ago, at a "women's health summit" held in Washington, by the progressive and correct-thinking Hellery Clinton. She was upset with Canada's Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, for suggesting cutting funding for aid groups that include abortion in their "services" to women.

Here's the reality. If a government or a state-sponsored organization or an NGO (like Planned Parenthood) is made aware that the amount of money it will get from well-meaning donors (including western governments) depends on reducing the number of births, they would be more than stupid to not "encourage" women to have their tubes tied or undergo abortions. For the good of society, of course. Just like China.

* Quoted in "Buddha's Sex Change?" by Tim Ward, in Travelers' Tales China, San Francisco, 2004, p. 267.