China to Implement First National Family Planning Law

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Sunday, September 01, 2002

China to Implement First National Family Planning Law

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China is to formalize its family planning and population control policies with its first national family planning law, which comes into effect on September 1.

The law covering all the country's 1.3 billion people comes after 30 years of strategies to control the population.

The new law, which has been 23 years on the drawing board and comprises seven chapters and 47 articles, has detailed provisions on measures to encourage and guarantee family planning, and outlines the public's legal obligations.

With the enforcement of the Population and Family Planning Law, China would establish a legal framework and standardize the national policy of population and birth control, said Zhang Weiqing, Minister in charge of the State Family Planning Commission (SFPC).

Grass-roots government bodies have a constant and fundamental task to help couples with family planning, but the new law would supercede provisions in the Constitution that were the sole guidelines in the past.

"The birth of the law will put an end to localized rules and regulations governing population and family planning efforts", said Zhang.

"It will become a milestone in China's population development cause, indicating the transformation from the imperative, administration-guided period to a new era that puts public satisfaction as top priority," said Mu Guangzong, associate professor with the Population and Development Research Center under the People's University of China in Beijing.

Outstanding progress could be found in the law in terms of perfecting the legal system and the deep concern it showed for thepeople, according to Li Jianmin, director of a population research center at Nankai University in Tianjin.

The human-oriented law ordains that family planning is a duty of Chinese citizens, but they also enjoy legal rights and interests, for which they are entitled to legal protection.

It especially stresses that no abuse of official power, obtrusion or infringement on public rights are allowed in the performance of family planning tasks.

People are to be fully informed of their rights of reproductive health care, choice of contraception, social welfare, and education, which is considered a major feature of the law.

The government will offer benefits to couples abiding by the law, while "social alimony", instead of the once prevailing fine, will be charged to those who break it.

The change of names revealed the national concern for people's rights of procreation, an official with the SFPC pointed out.

It is clearly specified that couples meeting special provisions within the law are allowed a second child. Many local governments already had laws to that effect and Anhui Province recently passed regulations allowing 13 categories of couples to apply to have a second child, while some can have a third or more.

The law also requires sex education among students.

China has successfully brought population growth under control, thanks to years of hard work, and is becoming an aging society. Based on the current numbers, the country's population is forecast to be 1.6 billion around 2050.

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