Proposed Criminal Law Amendment to Ban Sex-Selective Abortion Withdrawn

August 23, 2006

The National People’s Congress (NPC) withdrew a proposed amendment to the Criminal Law that would have penalized sex-selective abortions, according to a June 26 Xinhua article. Parents or medical personnel involved in a sex-selective abortion would have faced fines and up to three years in prison under the proposed amendment. Zhou Kunren, Vice Chairman of the Law Committee of the NPC Standing Committee, announced that NPC Standing Committee members as well as government officials had disagreed over the proposed amendment, according to a June 24 Xinhua article. Some officials opposed the amendment on the grounds that harsh penalties would create a black market in fetal sex determination, that the law could not change the entrenched cultural preference for male children, and that prosecution of offenders would prove difficult.

The National People’s Congress (NPC) withdrew a proposed amendment to the Criminal Law that would have penalized sex-selective abortions, according to a June 26 Xinhua article. Parents or medical personnel involved in a sex-selective abortion would have faced fines and up to three years in prison under the proposed amendment. Zhou Kunren, Vice Chairman of the Law Committee of the NPC Standing Committee, announced that NPC Standing Committee members as well as government officials had disagreed over the proposed amendment, according to a June 24 Xinhua article. Some officials opposed the amendment on the grounds that harsh penalties would create a black market in fetal sex determination, that the law could not change the entrenched cultural preference for male children, and that prosecution of offenders would prove difficult.

Officials who supported the proposed amendment cited China’s seriously imbalanced male:female birth ratio. This imbalance is the result of a longstanding population planning policy that limits most urban couples to one child, because parents determined to have a son to support them in their old age or to carry on the family name often choose to abort female infants. As a result, China's male:female birth ratio is 119:100, according to the Xinhua report. Demographers and population experts consider a normal male:female ratio to be between 103-107:100. Moreover, the sex ratio imbalance in China may be worsening. The South China Morning Post noted in a June 26 article (subscription required) that the Chinese government previously had reported a male:female ratio of 117:100. Zhao Baige, Vice Minister of the National Population and Family Planning Commission (NPFPC), told a U.S. reporter that the sex ratio imbalance continues to grow and create social problems, according to an April 17, 2006 CBS News report.

Article 35 of the 2002 Population and Family Planning Law prohibits but does not penalize sex-selective abortion. In January 2005, Zhang Weiqing, Minister of the NPFPC, announced that "curbing the increasing sex ratio imbalance is on the top agenda of the government's population work this year" and announced that the government would propose changes to the Criminal Law that would criminalize sex-selective abortion, according to a January 2005 People's Daily report. In December 2005, the NPFPC reported that the government had submitted a draft amendment to this effect to the NPC. But in April 2006, Xinhua reported that the proposed amendment had led to a "controversial debate" that left the Standing Committee "sharply divided" and resulted in the proposed measure being withdrawn.

A July 11 Financial Times article (subscription required) reported that, "Deep divisions have emerged within the Chinese government over how to manage its controversial one-child policy, with the country's population control commission defying domestic legislators with a push to criminalize sex-selective abortions." The report quoted Yu Xuejun, Director of the NPFPC's Department of Policies and Regulations, as saying, "I believe this [sex-selective abortion] is a kind of a crime," that he regretted that the amendment had been withdrawn, and that he would continue lobbying for it. Responding to the concern that criminalizing sex-selective abortions might create a new a black market, Yu said, "All policies have risks...We cannot be deterred because there are risks." Yu also said that the prison terms provided for in the amendment would not have been applied to parents but only to medical personnel.

Reports during July in the state-run press emphasized other means for addressing the sex ratio imbalance, and did not disclose whether the government plans to submit a similar amendment to the NPC in the future. According to a July 11 China Daily report, State Councilor Hua Jianmin re-emphasized that curbing the sex ratio imbalance remained a "top priority," and called for strengthening local implementation of the Care for Girls program, which seeks to raise the social status of women. Hua said that the State Council would dispatch teams to inspect the work and would discipline those who had failed to do it correctly. The China Daily article also quoted Hua as saying that "preferential policies should be ensured for girls and women in health care, education, and employment." In a July 12 Xinhua report, Vice Minister Zhao also referred to the government teams, and said that more than 60 teams already had begun to evaluate sex ratios and trends, as well as the efficiency of measures taken to correct the sex ratio imbalance. A July 13 China Daily report addressed the sex ratio imbalance in Hebei province, where Vice Governor Sun Shibin said that the imbalance could become a major obstacle to the province's economic development. According to the report, Hebei officials have closed 201 clinics found to have been involved in sex-selective abortion, dealt with hundreds of sex-selection cases, and reduced its sex ratio imbalance from 118:100 in 2000 to 114:100 in 2005.

For more information on population planning in China, see the CECC 2005 Annual Report, Section III(i).