The following comes from Bishop Jaime Soto’s November Reflection on the Diocese of Sacramento’s website:
It was recently announced with much fanfare that China was officially doing away with its “one-child” policy. Many news reports have recounted the moral and social havoc this ill-conceived government mandate has wracked upon China.
Many on this side of the Pacific may wag their heads at the brutish brutality of China’s totalitarian state, yet the same imprudent tendencies have been festering in the “freedom of choice” climate we experience here in California. Local media has trumpeted Planned Parenthood’s political survival after the release of videos revealing the practice of aborted fetuses being harvested for organs. Planned Parenthood’s public relations efforts are trying to push out of the public mind the searing image of a throw-away culture where the life of a child is considered worthless but the body parts are useful.
Women are manipulated and girls are rejected in a culture that increasingly forces them to comply with unjust laws. California should not be so smug as the cultural consequences of China’s folly come to light. With one coast looking at another across a vast ocean, there may be more of a mirror’s reflection than we would care to admit.
The huge difference is that women in China have suffered forced abortions externally imposed from the government, and in the United States, the decision for life or death is almost always the woman’s ultimately. She may be subject to social coercion, from pressure from family, “friends,” or the child’s father, but ultimately she is usually not physically subjected to a truly forced abortion, although I do know personally of one case of truly forced abortion, which I see as a murder.
Your right Maryanne
Yes, but in China the one-child policy does continue. To have a second child one needs a permit from the local magistrate. These are not automatic, especially if a couple already have a boy. Abortions are still forced on those who conceive without a permit. It is still hell in China for families. Children have no siblings, no aunts or uncles, nor cousins. Do the math and you will see what three generations of one-child has done to destroy the natural family in China. How can one have an aunt or uncle when their parents were the one allowed child?
Yes its true. Good comments.