Dear Friend,

The Wall Street Journal published an article today saying that, according to anonymous sources “familiar with the matter,” the Chinese Communist Party is considering the possibility of ending all birth restrictions in 2025.

Reggie Littlejohn, Founder and President of Women’s Rights Without Frontiers, issued the following STATEMENT:

The article stating that the Chinese Communist Party may be considering the end of all coercive population control policies in 2025 will no doubt be met with celebration by some. Before celebrating, I would note the following:

• The  CCP has not ended birth restrictions.  They are only considering the possibility of doing so in 2025.
• They have not repented of forced abortion or sterilization, but are considering this measure purely for demographic and economic reasons.  They are desperate for new babies to renew their work force and balance out their rapidly aging population.
• Since they are heading into a demographic disaster, why do they need to wait until 2025?Until all coercive population control ends, women’s bodies remain in the domain of the State and the Womb Police are still in business.  Women should be free to give birth to their children – now.   According to a Radio Free Asia report, “an average of 8 million ‘extra’ pregnancies are aborted in China each year.”  If the CCP waits until 2025, how many more tens of millions of “extra” pregnancies will be aborted – often by force?  We call upon the CCP to end all coercive population control immediately.
• The Three Child Policy rule is that every couple is allowed to have three children.  Therefore, it remains illegal for single women to give birth.  If the CCP “eliminates” all birth restrictions, will they finally let single women give birth?  Or will the new rule be, “all couples can now have as many children as they want”?
• Will the abolition of coercive population control be applied to the Uyghurs in Xinjiang as well?  The CCP is currently committing genocide against them, in large part through forced abortion and sterilization.  They have detained tens or hundreds of thousands of parents because they had “too many children.”  We call on the CCP immediately to stop committing genocide against the Uyghurs through forced abortion and sterilization.  We also call upon them to release all Uyghur parents detained in concentration camps because they have “too many children,” and to restore their children to them.
• The abolition of all coercive population control restrictions will not by itself restore the population of China.  The CCP did not receive the baby boom it expected when it went from a One-Child Policy to a Two-Child Policy in 2016.  Indeed, after the first year of the Two-Child Policy, the fertility rate declined to its lowest levels in decades.  I believe the same will be true under the Three-Child Policy and would be true if all birth restrictions were lifted.  The CCP has so brutally browbeaten the Chinese people into believing that one child is the ideal number, that many couples do not want more than one child.  In addition, raising children is very expensive in China.  The CCP has fallen victim to its own propaganda.

When the Three-Child Policy does not provide the boost in babies that the CCP wants, I hope it does not resort to forced pregnancy.  Since coercion is at the core of all of its population control policies, regardless of the number of children “allowed,” the possibility of forced pregnancy cannot be dismissed.