Title: Sterilization, abortion, fines: How China brutally enforced its 1-child policy
Headings: Sterilization, abortion, fines: How China brutally enforced its 1-child policy
Sterilization, abortion, fines: How China brutally enforced its 1-child policy
Complete child control
Just a piece of meat
Birth fine bonanza
Hunting the pregnant
I felt we were doing wrong, but I had no choice.
Secrets they kept
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Content: Document 7 did not remedy the lack of transparency and accountability within the system. Local officials had wide discretion in determining how much to fine violators. Sums could range from a multiple of two to 10 times annual household income. People had no way of figuring out ahead of time what they were liable for, and two sets of violators, under similar circumstances, might pay vastly different penalties. In 2010, a family-planning official apparently imposed a fine of 5 million yuan, or over $800,000, on a violator. When that person protested, the official allegedly increased the fine, saying, “You are just a piece of meat on the chopping block,” according to local media reports. In essence, the central government gave local provinces the message, “Meet your birth quotas; we don’t really care to know how.” They also expected provinces to fund the bulk of population planning on their own. This created a system ripe for corruption.