Pregnancy scans face restrictions
8/3/2005 8:19
Identifying the gender of a fetus for non-medical purposes has been on
the rise in China, and lawmakers and government advisers now meeting in Beijing
are calling for tougher laws to stop the practice.
The abortion of female
fetuses is responsible for China's growing gender imbalance, and current
regulations seem to be doing little to halt the trend, authorities
complain.
Many chinese families prefer sons to daughters, especially in the
rural areas, where 900 million people make up a bulk of the country's 1.3
billion population. Experts say China's one-child policy may be making the
imbalance more severe.
According to the latest national census in 2000, the
gender ratio of newborns stood at 119.92 boys to 100 girls compared with the
universal standard of 100:105. The ratio in Chinese cities was 116.41:100 while
in the countryside it was 121.67:100.
After two decades of growing gender
disparity, men below age 20 outnumbered women in the same age range by 20
million in 2000.
Gender-based abortions are the chief factor for the gap
between boy and girl babies, according to a recent survey by the Education,
Science, Culture and Public Health Committee of the National People's Congress,
China's legislature.
Identifying fetuses for non-medical purposes is not
permitted in China, but it goes on unchecked due to the lack of effective
penalties, said Zheng Daci, an NPC deputy from Jiangsu Province, east
China.
As such, Zheng has urged the legislature to draft a law to halt
indiscriminate identification of fetuses.
Zheng's view is shared by Ren
Yuling, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political
Consultative Conference, the top advisory body, which is also holding its annual
session in Beijing.
"We must enact a law to curb the widening gender
disparity," said Zheng, who appealed to the government to also take substantial
measures to further raise the social status of women and boost development in
the countryside.
Over the weekend, a senior Chinese geneticist also said
China should enact a law to regulate test-tube technology because it threatens
the gender ratio and also presents the possibility of inadvertent
inbreeding.
"Legislation is the most effective way to avoid the abuse of
test-tube technology and curb the side-effects of artificial fertilization
devices," said Professor Lu Guangxiu, a noted geneticist and member of the
CPPCC.
(Xinhua)
Xinhua
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