National Congress decides selective abortions are legal
The worrying gender imbalance among newborns persists: 119 males for every 100 girls. At the moment, no penalty is foreseen for those who carry out abortions on the basis of a child's sex.
Beijing (AsiaNews/Agencies) The National People's Congress has refused to approve an amendment to the criminal law that would ban sex-selective abortions despite a growing nationwide gender imbalance, state media reported yesterday.
Members of the Congress Standing Committee were divided over the idea of criminalizing sex-selective abortions and decide to scrap the proposal from a draft amendment submitted on 24 June.
The original amendment called for fines and prison terms of up to three years for aborting a fetus for non-medical reasons. According to Xinhua, there were now 119 boys born for every 100 girls: this information reveals an increase over time, given that the previously published figure was 117 males to 100 girls.
Chinese law does not consider abortions to select a child's gender to be illegal. A family planning regulation prohibits the practice except for medical reasons, but does not spell out punishments for those violating it.
Experts in the sector said it was this shortcoming that encouraged the use of abortions by families who want a son.
During the past two years in Hebei province, authorities closed 201 clinics that had performed sex-selection abortions.
According to Chinese law, since 1978, urban residents have been allowed to have only one child while peasants may have two. The country went from a rate of 5.83 children per couple in the 70s, to 2.1 children in 1990, to 1.8 now. The government aim is to have a population of no more than 1.37 billion by 2010. This policy has led to a high number of abortions and killing of newborn female babies, to have a male who can bear the family name.
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