Birth control policies and their effects on Chinese society

China Birth Control

The effects of Birth Control in China

Technological developments necessarily have an impact on human societies, though the degree may vary from culture to culture. One technological innovation of the past century that has had a profound impact on many societies around the world has been the development of various birth control devices, including pharmaceuticals and physical barriers. Though certain methods and devices have existed for millennia, it was not until the twentieth century that products were developed with highly effective success rates. This has enabled not only individuals but social groups -- be they small family unites or large national governments -- to implement birth control programs on a much more effective result. This has had dramatic effects in many nations of the world, and perhaps China most extremely.

Population Growth and Fertility Rates

The primary reason for China's implementation of strict birth control policies, beginning in the 1950s and continuing in various forms until the resent day, is to curb the massive growth that the increasingly crowded and still largely impoverished country has experienced (Hsu 1985; Xiaokang 1996). The availability of contraceptives in many areas of the country has made such policies relatively easy to implement on a physical level, especially in urban centers of the nation (Hsu 1985; Peng 2000; Zhang et al. 2009). Increasing participation in government-supplied contraceptive programs has been a key element of the government's success in its birth control efforts, and though the population in China continues to rise in large absolute terms, the growth rate has been diminished (Peng 2000).

There are also benefits of the program that are not directly related to the issue of population growth. The increasing industrialization and modernization of China, at least insofar as its urban areas are concerned, has led to a breakdown of the traditional Chinese family structure, and the economic realities have shifted in a way that favor smaller families rather than the large extended networks and multitude of offspring that traditional Chinese culture and economics makes a practical and ethical imperative (Jacka 2007; Xiaokang 1996). Families with fewer children are also more mobile, and Chinese couples with only the one child the Chinese government will sanction their having are more able to focus efforts and resources towards that child's success in the changing and developing world (Hsu1985). Changing traditions and economies necessarily alter opportune family structures.

Successful contraceptive efforts, which form the backbone of the government-sponsored birth control programs in the country, have also had a major effect on the practice of healthcare in China. Fewer conceptions taking place means that fewer women are forced or choose to terminate unwanted pregnancies, which creates both a direct and an indirect strain on the medical community in certain areas of china (Hsu 1985; Li et al. 2009; Xiaokang 1996). Medical complications arising from improperly performed abortions and self-abortion attempts have been reduced to some degree by government contraception programs, which has led many to see promise in the continuing efforts by the Chinese government to limit China's population growth through these means, especially if further educational efforts and rural availability of contraception is increased (Li et al. 2009).

Conclusion

The effect of contraceptive availability has been varied in different areas in China, but essentially it as led to increased attempts at social control. These have had tremendous effects on the culture, as well as on the ethical view of issues like fertility and birth rates. China's population cannot sustain its growth and remain able to find enough resources for common survival, but state intrusion into the matter -- especially in its more invasive programs -- does not seem to be the answer. As the twenty-first century progresses, a solution of one sort or another must inevitably emerge.