New Genetics and Society, Vol. 24, No. 1, April 2005

A sense of autonomy is preserved under Chinese
reproductive policies
BAOQI SU & DARRYL R.J. MACER†
Center for Bioethics and the Department of Social Sciences, Chinese Academy of Medical
Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China†Institute of Biological Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Japan

ABSTRACT China has had a one-child family policy since 1979 and a National Family Planning
Law since 2002. This paper presents analysis of comments from members of the general public andexperts in China on the question of reproductive autonomy. The Chinese concept of ‘Yousheng’(healthy birth) is more appropriate than eugenics as an expression of Chinese social policy andpublic attitudes. The widespread support for healthy birth has policy implications. None of thepersons interviewed said that they had ever used ultrasound to choose the gender of their childnor had an abortion for the reason of a fetus’s gender. Despite the bad impression of abortion
from their experience, most would abort a fetus with a genetic disease. Respondents in rural
areas were less likely to use prenatal care, pointing to more important social problems in
reproduction in China. The impressions given from the survey stands in contrast to theimplications of the majority of Western papers on the Chinese situation, and indicate thatpeople are generally satisfied with the ethical balance towards the societal needs over individualautonomy, but they still have a sense of reproductive autonomy. There needs to be further study
into these issues with larger surveys and interview studies.

Autonomy in reproduction
One of the central ethical principles of bioethics and modern human life is theprinciple of autonomy (self-rule). This has a long basis in our biological andsocial heritage through evolution, as without a sense of the individual a person
would not be able to reproduce and leave descendants. Personal autonomy islimited by respect for the autonomy of other individuals in the society, andevery society has developed ways for respecting the choices of others. All societies
have thus introduced limits upon individual autonomy. A fundamental question is
how society should limit autonomy, and part of the answer to this is to examine
the existing ways that autonomy is limited for the group interest, and how wellindividuals accept this.

Correspondence to: Darryl R.J. Macer, Institute of Biological Sciences, University of Tsukuba,
Tsukuba Science City, 305-8572, Japan. Tel: þ81 29 853 4662. Fax: þ81 29 853 6614. Email:macer@sakura.cc.tsukuba.ac.jp
ISSN 1463-6778 print/ISSN 1469-9915 online/05/010017-15 # 2005 Taylor & Francis Ltd
DOI: 10.1080/14636770500037636

18 Baoqi Su & Darryl R.J. Macer
One of the most sensitive issues is the limitation of reproductive and genetic
freedom. According to the 1984 UN recommendation on basic human rights,‘all couples and individuals have the basic right to decide freely and responsibly
the number and spacing of their children and to have the information, education,and means to do so’. This we will call reproductive autonomy. In this paper wewant to ask whether this understanding of reproductive freedom is common in
China among individuals and society.
We can define genetic freedom as ‘the freedom to bring about the conception of achild with any characters, be they good or bad, or desired or undesired’ (Macer,1990). Freedom is limited by recognition of other’s autonomy to pursue to an
equal degree of freedom. There are limits in the way that we should affect otherpeople. The idea of limiting genetic freedom also involves how we treat otherpeople, but people who may not yet exist. It is a common desire for most people
in every culture to have a healthier baby rather than a diseased one. Joseph Fletcher(1988) argued that humans are distinguished from animals because they have theability to choose traits in their children. He goes as far as claiming that coital reproduction is less human than rationally controlled reproduction, such as laboratory
reproduction, as the latter is more rationally developed. He advocated a shift
from accidental or random reproduction to rationally willed reproduction. Thisview however has not been common in Western bioethics, with many consideringthat the genetic choices being exercised today with the aid of technology to be
going too far (Ramsey, 1970).
Genetic freedom has two sides. On the one hand society can say that genetic
screening must be used and that disease-causing genes are subject to control. If
there is some therapy available may it be forced on children until they are able
to decide for themselves, or should it be up to the family? Compulsory genetic
screening is only justified to protect those who cannot give their consent, suchas for screening newborns for phenylketonuria (PKU), when there is therapy
available. On the other hand, people are given freedom in their lives, but only
as long as they do not prevent others from pursuing an equal degree of
freedom. It is the children (who are yet to exist but who can still be considered
as individuals) whose genetic freedom should be protected from influences that
limit choices, within the framework of a healthy life.
We need to respect people’s reproductive rights, but at the same time we should
not neglect the population explosion on our planet and the decreasing resources.
Society should also consider the autonomy of future generations. Often in public
policy, the demands of justice to all can outweigh the demands of respect for individual autonomy (Beauchamp & Childress, 2001).
Chinese bioethics
Tsai (1999) considered that the four principles of bioethics, autonomy, justice,beneficence and non-maleficence can also be found in ancient China as well as
today. We can see principles of bioethics and love of others in ancient writingsfrom China, as in other cultures. It is widely accepted that, in general, EasternChinese reproductive policies

19

cultures value the community interests over the individual to a greater degree thanin North American popular culture and writings on bioethics.
There is a written tradition of universal love as fundamental ethical principle in
China for three millennium (Macer, 1998), as shown in the following quotations
from Mo Tzu (1929) and Han Yu (Macer, 1998):
It [Familial preference] should be replaced by the way of universal loveand mutual benefit . . . . It is to regard other people’s countries as one’s
own. Regard other people’s families as one’s own. Regard other people’s
person as one’s own. Consequently, when feudal lords love one another,
they will not fight in the fields. When heads of families love one another,
they will not usurp one another. When individuals love one another, they
will not injure one another. When ruler and minister love each other,
they will be kind and loyal. When father and son love each other, they
will be affectionate and filial. When brothers love one each other, they
will be peaceful and harmonious. When all people in the world
love one another, the strong will not overcome the weak, the many will
not oppress the few, the rich will not insult the poor, the honoured
will not despise the humble, and the cunning will not deceive theignorant. Because of universal love, all the calamities, usurpations,hatred, and animosity in the world will be prevented from arising (MoTzu, 6th century BC).
Universal love is called humanity. To practice this in the proper manneris called righteousness. To proceed according to these is called the Way.
To be sufficient in oneself without depending on anything outside iscalled virtue. Humanity and righteousness are definite values, whereas
the Way and virtue have no substance in themselves (Han Yu, AD 8th
century).
However, there have been a number of changes and ideas through Chinese
history, with the 20th century marked by the rise of communism in the mainland,
and the diaspora of millions of people for economic and ideological reasons toplaces like Taiwan, South East Asia, and the West. The legal system is determinedby both the political system and tradition of the state. China is a unitary state,vertically national laws are superior and override conflicting local laws. Central
laws rule everywhere if enforced, but provincial governments may establish
their local standards for specific details not specified by the national standards.
With regard to items already specified by the national standards, they may set
local standards that are more stringent than the national standards and reportthem to the competent authority of the central government for record. For
example, in the 1989 Environmental Protection Law (Article 10), levels of pollu- Q1tants can be specified in this way. In the hierarchy of legal norms, from top tobottom the supreme law is Constitutional provisions. The second rank are thelaws issued by the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress(NPC). Third rank are the administrative laws or regulation issued by the State

20 Baoqi Su & Darryl R.J. Macer
Council. The fourth rank are the ministerial rules issued by ministries, commissions and administration/agencies. Horizontally speaking, some of the laws havemore general objectives and targets than others. Local laws are applicable tothose administrative cases within the same local administrative region, andcourts administer cases. In case of conflicts among these administrative rules, it
is within the discretion of the State Council to make interpretation and decision.
In accordance with the 2000 ‘Legislation Law’, administrative laws override local Q2
laws or regulations (Article 79).
The Chinese population dilemma and policies
There are several laws issued by the central government relating to reproductive
autonomy and genetic freedom. The extent to which they are implemented inpractice is not sure. A government population census (xxx: xxxx) showed that Q3
China’s population had reached 1.26 billion by the end of 1999. The one-childfamily policy was implemented in 1979 and has been a basic national policy.
The main content of the current policy includes promoting late marriage andlater, fewer, and healthier births, as well as advocating a ‘one child per family’.
The government said it is a natural choice that the Chinese government has
made to implement family planning, control population growth and improve
the quality of life. However, there has been criticism of the restrictions, especiallyinternationally, in line with what we said above about basic human reproductive
rights (Kane, 1987). Although reproduction is one of the most basic humandesires, and some Western people think that China’s population policy is a kindof violation of human rights, uncontrolled reproduction threatens to destroy
our fragile biosphere and the human community dependent upon it. There has
been little research to examine what ordinary Chinese citizens think about thepolicy.
From 1 September 2002, the first National Family Planning Law took effect inChina with the stated intention of preventing arbitrary fining and harsh punishment of families who violate the one-child family that have been reported inlocal communities. Under the new law violators pay a social alimony based on
their income in the local area. The law calls for funding of birth control educationfrom other sources than the collection of fines from violators has been the practice
until now. The law requires sex education, which has been neglected until now.
Ethnic minorities are allowed to have 2–3 children because of their low number
and life in harsh conditions, which is the opposite of some images of social
eugenics policies in the past in some countries that restricted the rights of
ethnic minorities.
Since 1994 some Europeans accused China of enacting a eugenic law, theMaternal and Infant Health Care Law, questioning the role of the state in individual reproductive decision making (Editorial, 1995; Beardsley, 1997; Doering,
1998a, 1998b; Allen, 2001). To quote a Lancet Editorial (1995), ‘Totalitarianstates are attracted to eugenics, and too often are able to force their population
to conform, as a quick means to a “better life for all”. . .’. The purpose of thisChinese reproductive policies

21

law, implemented in 1995, is primarily to improve maternal and infant health.
Over the past few decades, the general health level of childbearing women has
greatly improved. However, maternal and child health are still affected byvarious factors.
One lesson taught by the history of eugenics in the past is that there should be aproper balance between the public interest and individual reproductive rights.
Europeans tend to focus on individual rights. Especially many Asians believethat individual rights should not be at the cost of public interest. The Chinese Q4
Encyclopedia of Medicine (1994) defines eugenics as: ‘a science for the improvement of human heredity, prevention defects of births and raising the quality ofthe population by research applying genetics theories and approaches’. In fact,
most such eugenic practices pay attention to the prevention the defect of thebirths. Social policy interventions associated with genetics measures exist
in many countries. Such social policies intervention should be based on theindividual’s informed consent. This science can be called ‘negative eugenics’(Wang, 1999).
The Chinese word ‘Yousheng’ is same as the Greek work eugenes meaning‘good in birth’, also it is consistent with Galton’s eugenics core doctrine of
improving the stock of humankind by application of the science of human heredity(Su & Macer, 2003). In this sense, the Chinese word ‘Yousheng’ can be translated
to eugenics. But it is different from the US and German ‘eugenics’ in 20th century(Kevles, 1985; Wang, 1999; Tang, 2002).
The law was not the result of a dictatorial decision, but rather went through a
decade-long process of reflection. In 1986 a Leading Group for drafting a law on
healthy birth and rearing healthy children under the leadership of the Ministry of
Public Health, involving the participation of 23 ministries and NGOs led to theestablishment of an Expert Advisory Committee. In April 1987 the first draft ofthe law called, ‘China’s Law on Healthy Birth and Health Care’ was written. In
1988 the draft was called ‘China’s Law on Health Birth and Protection’. In
1988 a national feasibility survey was conducted in 30 provinces and municipalities. There were many revisions during 1988–1993. In 1994 the draft of the Law
on Healthy Birth was submitted to the People’s Congress by Professor Chen
Minzhang, who was the Minister of Public Health. On 27 October 1994 thelaw with the new name as Law on Maternal and Infant Hearth Care wasadopted by the People’s Congress and promulgated by President Jiang Zemin(Qiu, 1996). The law went into effect in 1995 (Ministry of Public Health of thePeople’s Republic of China, 1995).
As Ole Doering pointed out (1998a), some people suspect the ‘Maternal andInfant Health Care Law’ as having a eugenics intention. However, as he has
also argued, from the core statement of ‘ensuring the health of mothers andinfants’ and ‘improving the quality of the newborn population,’ we could see
the government’s good intention to the people (Doering, 1998a, 1999).
Eugenic thinking and practice in Chinese thinking should balance the interestsof all sides (Wang, 1999), individual, community or society. As many have Q5
noted there were new and encouraging concepts in the law inventing new

22 Baoqi Su & Darryl R.J. Macer
standards for medical personnel, stipulating patient’s informed consent, and forbidding sex-related abortion in China, like (Doering, 1998a):
Article 19: Any termination of pregnancy or application of ligation shall beagreed and signed by the person concerned. If the person has no capacity forcivil conduct, it shall be agreed and signed by the guardian of the person.. . .
That is we advocated ‘informed consent’ in medical ethics. Informed
consent is the fundamental issue of respecting individual’s autonomy.

Q6

While there can be no doubt that most of the articles of the ‘Maternal and Infant
Health Care Law’ are positive (Knoppers & Kirby, 1997; 18th International Congress of Genetics, 1998), one aspect of this law is the idea to prevent the birth of Q7
seriously defective infants. Foreign critics of China focused on Articles 10 and 18,
which are (Doering, 1998a):
Article 10: Physicians shall, after performing the pre-marital physical checkup, explain and give medical advice to both the male and the female whohave been diagnosed with certain genetic disease of a serious nature which isconsidered inappropriate for child-bearing from a medical point of view: thetwo may be married only if both sides agree to take long-term contraceptive
measures or to take a ligation operation for sterility. . . .
Article 18: The physician shall explain to the married couple and give them
medical advice for a termination of pregnancy if one of the following cases is
detected in the prenatal diagnosis: (1) the fetus is suffering from genetic
disease of a serious nature; (2) the fetus is with defect of a serious nature;and (3) continued pregnancy may threaten the life and safety of the pregnant
woman or serious impair her health due to the serious disease she suffers from.
Article 10 can be considered counter to the idea of reproductive and genetic
freedom discussed above, as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states,‘men and women of full age without limitation due to race, nationality or religion
have the right to marry to found a family’. Let us consider what some Chinese
people think of these concepts.
In China, ideally physicians have responsibility to provide prenatal care, genetic
counseling and prenatal diagnosis (Mao & Wertz, 1997; Yang, 1999). Most of thepeople in China are quite receptive to prenatal diagnosis, but access to health carein China is not something dictated by the state, and many people actually haveproblems affording the costs of visiting the medical system. Ethical debates areraised when the fetus was diagnosed as a ‘disabled’ one. Still in China it seems
easy to get consensus to abort in most cities and provinces (Nie, 2002),
perhaps that is due to the effect of generous propaganda of family planningpolicy and everyone’s responsibility to limit the huge population of China. In
Southern China there is also a high frequency of hemoglobin disorders suchas thalassemia and there is premarital and prenatal testing in many places(Xu et al., 1996).

Q8

Chinese reproductive policies

23

Methodology of interviews
What is lacking, especially in the English language literature, is adequate
representation of the views of ordinary Chinese citizens, and even academics.
While there have been some accounts from anecdotal experience (Hesketh,
2003), there has not been a study of persons of a wide range of ages andoccupations. In order to clarify how ordinary citizens consider their reproductive
autonomy, and the way that future studies may be conducted to reliably investigate this, interviews were conducted with both the general public and bioethics
researchers in cities and countryside in China in 2001. The questions, andoptimal order, were pretested on selected persons before choosing a diverse
sample of both. The interview content was analysed. The data collection in
Mandarin Chinese was followed by interpretation of the results considering
ethical principles that the respondents were using and translation of words andconcepts into English.
The 36 respondents from the general public included 28 women and 8 men
aged between 20 to 65 years (Table 1). A range of people in different social posi- Q9tions was interviewed, rather than just focusing on family composition and age.
This study was intended as a pathfinder to explore the feasibility of conducting
larger studies across the diverse country of China. The people were selectedfrom four different regions in China designed to explore some of the range ofthe country, but not pretending to represent a country of such size with at least
50 ethnic groups. The locations chosen were Beijing city and Changping
county and Changzhi city and Yangcheng county in Shanxi province. Beijing
has a population of approximately 13.8 million persons, and Changping county
includes 431,000 persons, among whom 119,000 are childbearing women.
Shanxi has a total of 130 counties and prefectures with a population of
33 million, among whom 15.6 million are women. Its rural population is
21 million, among whom 5.5 million are childbearing women (The Fifth National
Population Census, 2000).
TABLE 1. Interviewee characteristics
General public

Specialist

Average age
Range in age (years)
Highest education levelNow married (%)

36
Female 28
Male 8
37
20–65
M.A.
32 (89%)23
Female 14
Male 9
42
36–68
Ph.D.
21 (91%)

Number of children
0
1
2
More

5
13
8
10

4
10
6
3

NumberGender24 Baoqi Su & Darryl R.J. Macer
A fundamental question about conducting social research in a country where
people have some risk of persecution from authorities is whether they will givehonest answers to interviews, and fully trust that their privacy will be maintained
when interviews are tape recorded. The interview subjects for the general publicstudy in this paper were chosen through a snowball sampling method starting withpersonal acquaintances and following with subsequent introductions, because an
unknown person will not discuss freely some personal opinions. The occupationsof the respondents included 8 farmers, 4 company employees, 3 factory workers,
5 self-employed persons, 4 teachers, 1 policeman, 1 engineer, 3 retired persons,
2 student, 2 housewife, 1 nurse, and 2 cadre. Further attention should be developed if quantitative studies are needed on how to really get a random sample
rather than a snowball sample as described here.
The women in the survey (N ¼ 28) ranged in age from 20 to 60, with an averageage of 35 years in Beijing and 36 years in Shanxi province. Educational attainment
for women differed between the four groups. More than two-thirds of the women
were of reproductive age. The average age of women was 35.5 years. The rate ofilliteracy was 7%, while 7% of persons had a qualification above college level.
There were also 6 men in the survey. Among the total interviewees there were
two unmarried women, two married women who had have no children, andone divorced man with no child. One woman (49-year old) had three daughtersand two families (55-year and 60-year old) had four children.
Interviews with 23 persons in the expert group, included 10 bioethics researchers; 4 gynecology and obstetrics doctors; 3 health workers for maternal and children health; 3 policy bureaucrats; and 3 members of the All-China Women’sFederation. Persons were also met through attendance at an International Scientific Symposium on Genomics and Biotechnology in Hangzhou, China, August
2001, as well as during other meetings.

Public attitudes to handicap and genetic disease
We can see a summary of people’s attitudes relating to handicapped in Table 2. Q10
The respondents who are listed as uncertain include the people who could notunderstand the questions and could not give the clear answers. In a separate
TABLE 2. Public attitudes towards the handicapped (N ¼ 36, Numbers (%))
Item (handicapped)

Agree

Uncertain

DisagreeRight to survive
Government should provide care
Difficult for community
Prefer to spend more on healthy people
Difficult to work
Willingness to help
Childbearing with risk (5%) of
Risk (5%) as a reason for abortion

19 (53)22 (61)24 (67)18 (50)19 (53)30 (83)2 (6)30 (83)10 (28)6 (17)3 (8)
6 (17)2 (6)
4 (11)
6 (17)
4 (11)

7 (19)
8 (22)
9 (25)
12 (33)15 (42)2 (6)28 (78)2 (6)Chinese reproductive policies

25

TABLE 3. Attitudes towards genetic diseases (N ¼ 36, Numbers (%))
Item
Heredity as a cause of disease
Heredity as the cause of most congenital disorders
Consanguineous marriage
Consult a doctor if his/her relative was genetic
diseased before marriage
Perform prenatal diagnosis (fetus at risk)
Abort if diagnosis was positive

Agree

Uncertain

Disagree30 (83)26 (72)36 (100)
19 (53)6 (17)
6 (17)0
12 (33)0
4 (11)0
5 (14)

25 (69)32 (89)6 (17)
4 (11)

5 (14)
0question a majority (53%) thought that handicapped persons had a right to comeinto this world, while 19% of respondents disagreed. A majority, 61%, believedthat the government should provide for their care and 67% considered it was difficult for the community. At the same time most (83%) said that they would like tohelp the handicapped. When asked personally, 78% of respondents would notconsider childbearing with the risk of handicap to the child, even if only 5%
risk, and 83% of they would choose abortion when diagnosed with a 5% riskof handicapped.
Table 3 reveals that most public respondents had some basic knowledge of Q10
genetic disease and preferred to consult a doctor when there was any such suspicion. The majority knew that heredity could be the cause of diseases (83%),
especially for congenital disorders (72%). All of them were against consanguineous
marriages. They knew the marriage law in China prohibits it. Two-thirds (69%)
would perform a prenatal diagnosis if there were the risk of genetic disease, and
89% of the total would perform an abortion if the diagnosis was positive.
People want to have healthy babies. This is true in every culture, although there
are wide variations in the definitions of handicapped and genetic disease, and in
the extent to which societies allow individuals choice in prenatal genetics andreproductive selection technology. Parents might take the moral responsibility
for deciding what genetic quality of life is in the best interest of her future child(Boyd, 2002). Also some argue that it can sometimes be immoral to have children
when we know that our offspring may have a genetic disease (Purdy, 1999). Thisconsideration is a sense of autonomy of reproduction too, and it is consistent with
the idea that we should not limit the autonomy of any future child that might beborn (Davis, 1999).

Childbearing preferences
Table 4 presents people’s childbearing preferences. We can see that more than half Q11of the interviewees (67%) showed that they’d like to have two children, in particular, 53% of them preferred to have one boy and one girl. Few of the people wishedto have only one child. When asked whether they thought that family planning wasa useful policy for them, as Table 5 shows, people expressed very favorable Q11

26 Baoqi Su & Darryl R.J. Macer
TABLE 4. Childbearing preferences: desired number of boys (B) and girls (G)Number and gender of children desired
Total:

1

2

3þ
Total numberof subjects

Location

B

G

Either

1B&1G

2B

2G

Females
Beijing city
Changping county
Changzhi city
Yangcheng county

1
0
0
0

1
0
0
0

1
0
0
0

4
4
5
3

0
1
1
0

0
0
0
0

Males

1

0

1

3

2

1

0

8

Total

2

1

2

19 (53%)

4

1

7

36

(19%)

(100%)

Proportion

(14%)

(67%)

1
1
3
2

8
6
9
5

opinions of the effect of family planning on their health, household work, education, job opportunities, ability to earn more income and time for leisure.
There is a great gap between rural and urban areas in China in many things.
A government survey (xxxx) in 1997 of 11,892 people (9300 rural and 2592 Q12
urban) found that 86% of women in urban areas had a prenatal check-up, but
only 49% of women in rural areas did. A similar result was shown in the interviews Q12(Table 6). In Beijing city prenatal check-up was conducted for 83% of pregnancies. However, in Yangcheng county the rate was only 60%. A large number of
respondents in rural areas said that prenatal check-up was not necessary. Thisfinding suggested that quite a few of the women did not understand the importance of prenatal care, and the education on this topic was inadequate. Without
education women cannot express their autonomy in reproduction.
Abortion frequency
There have been many Western claims that abortion is done very easily in China.
In fact the killing of human life is against the Confucian principle to respect life,
and abortion is traumatic for women in any culture. Confucius said in his book the
TABLE 5. Reasons why family planning is viewed favourably (N)Be more healthy
Lighten household work
Obtain more education
More opportunities at job
Earn more income/more savings
Have more leisure time
Total number

Beijingcity

ChangpingcountyChangzhicity

Yangchengcounty

10
11
11
10
7
10
11

6
7
6
5
5
6
7

11
11
9
9
8
10
11

7
7
4
4
4
6
7

Chinese reproductive policies

27

TABLE 6. Frequency of married women’s attendance of prenatal check-up during pregnancies andthe reasons for no prenatal check-up
Reason for no prenatal check-up (N)Beijing city
Changping county
Changzhi city
Yangcheng county

Prenatal
check-up(%)

Mean visits
for each
birth

Total
no. ofbirthsNot
necessaryNot
convenient

Too
expensive

Too
busy

Other

83
63
81
60

10
8
8
5

12
15
21
15

2
9
4
6

0
6
2
5

1
7
3
4

2
2
2
4

1
2
1
3

Analects in 5th century BC that, ‘To love a thing means wanting it to live’ (Macer,1998). However, Nie (2002) has described how there is a long tradition of allowing abortion in China. Although when seeking the real situation it is difficult toknow if people will give real answers when being asked whether they had an abortion, in this survey Table 7 shows that among 26 married women in the public Q11
sample, 5 women said that they had one abortion, 3 had two abortions, and 2
had three abortions. We can see a significant number of women acknowledgedthat they had abortions. For reasons of cultural sensitivity, unmarried women
were not asked if they had had an abortion.
Even if we are not sure of the reliability of the total number, the reasons given
for having the abortions may be considered close to reality. Table 8 shows thatamong the total of 17 abortions, 8 of the abortions were due to unplanned pregnancies, 7 were due to contraception failures. The women who had abortions all
thought it harmed to their health not only physically, but also psychologically. The
influence of the birth control policy is clear because families of young persons
were limited in number and many mentioned it as a matter of logical policy,
and none mentioned that it violated their reproductive rights.
None of the women interviewed said that they had ever used ultrasoundto choose the gender of their child nor had an abortion for the reason of a
fetus’s gender. The impressions given from the survey stands in contrast to theimplications of the majority of Western papers on the Chinese situation

TABLE 7. Number of abortions reported among the married women interviewed
Number of reported abortions

0

1

2

3

4

Total

Beijing city
Changping county
Changzhi city
Yangcheng county

5
3
5
3

1
1
1
2

1
0
2
0

0
1
1
0

0
0
0
0

7
5
9
5

Total

16

5

3

2

Rate (%)

62

0

26

38

100

28 Baoqi Su & Darryl R.J. Macer
TABLE 8. Reasons given for abortion (N)Women who said they had abortion
Cases of abortion
Out of birth plan
Contraception failure
Not in the proper time
Mother’s illness

10
17
8
7
1
1

(Anson & Sun, 2002; Doherty, Norton & Veney, 2001; Rigdon, 1996). Thereneeds to be further study into these issues with larger surveys and interviews
across China.
Discussion
The results reveal that among the limited number of citizens interviewed, theirautonomy is molded by the policy of the government. The reason of not being
allowed by policy accounted for the largest portion of the induced abortions,but the respondents did not express severe dissatisfaction with this. The respondents were supportive of the family planning policy of the government although anumber desired to have more than one child. Among the academics a number
have argued that people have reproductive rights, and the society has the responsibility to provide products and services for the newborn (Qiu, 1996).
With talking to interviewers we could identify that lack of contraceptive knowledge and limits on contraceptive methods are serious problems to the women not
only in rural areas, but also in cities. There is no form of reversible contraceptionthat is completely safe and reliable. The pill and the IUD are the most effectivemeans, but both involve significant risks to women’s health. The safest form ofbirth control involves the use of barrier methods (condoms or diaphragms),
however many women interviewed here found their male partners unwilling to
use them. Moreover, condoms are expensive and are not always available fromthe government, so cost is another limiting factor for many women. It was oneof the themes found in the interviews that implementation of reproductive
policy should not neglect women’s health. Given that contraceptive failure wasalso a major reason given for having an abortion, we can see that if a policy
is implemented to control population there should be widespread accessto contraception.
Table 6 revealed that rural women do not see a need for prenatal care. Education about the need for good medical care is a high priority, and is a fundamental barrier to true reproductive autonomy. Education was found to be a major
priority of Chinese geneticists (Yang, 2002) and academics that were interviewed.
The intention of the ‘Maternal and Infant Health Care Law’ is to improvematernal and infant health based on the ethical principle of beneficence.
However, there are shortcomings in the law, because some articles seem toviolate disabled individuals’ rights and appear to encourage abortions for
fetuses with abnormalities.

Chinese reproductive policies

29

Most Chinese people wish to have more than one child, and like some other
Asian countries, there are social, cultural and economic factors that cause
people in China, especially people in rural areas, to still have a preference tohave sons. However, we did not find evidence of this as a reason for abortion in
the minds of the persons interviewed. Anecdotal stories can be found to report
happy girls as well as unhappy girls in China, and in fact recent United Nations
statistics do not suggest a general selection for boy babies over girl babies. Traditional sources can also be found to argue for the importance and love of life,and communism also taught that gender is not a preclusion from occupationand career. In fact if we compare to neighboring countries like Japan, for asample of 36 ordinary persons including 28 women we would find much morethan 1 person indicating that they were housewives.
From the interviews it was shown that a majority of parents wanted to be given
information by a doctor to decide whether to risk passing on unwanted family
traits to the next generation. However, the majority of reproductive choices are
not to conceive a child with high risk of hereditary disability or to choose abortion.
More than half the respondents thought that handicapped children had a right tocome into this world, also some of them disagreed. Most of respondents had somebasic knowledge of genetic disease and prefer to consult a doctor when there wassuspicion. However, part of the positive response to prenatal diagnosis is related tothe positive view of the role of science in human life in China (Zhang et al., 1991; Q14
Su & Macer, 2003). Since the end of the 1970s, economic development has been
the top priority in all aspects of government policies and social life in China.
During this process, the technologies of genetic engineering, which serves as asymbol and core of modern biotechnology, has long been supported and promoted by the government as a key to the solution of existing problems and also
as a way to achieve more rapid economic growth. The achievements in this field
include both agriculture and medicine.
As we compare the relationship between doctors and patients, we could consider the general social transition from paternalism to informed choice. This transition is occurring in all societies including China. The relationship between theprinciple of autonomy and access to health care services needs to be examined.
The majority of Chinese people would like to do prenatal diagnosis, and a great
number of women would decide to have an abortion when diagnosed with evena low risk of disability. We have to be concerned about the level of paternalism
when it comes to directive genetic counseling (Mao & Wertz, 1997), and given
the way that people have adopted birth control it also appears that they will
adopt government advice on ‘healthy’ birth. While Yousheng is not the same as
eugenics, there still needs to be caution when the state sanctions what is ahealthy birth, and what conditions should preclude marriage and reproduction.
There are many subtle pressures in society relating to selection of children
without genetic disease (Pernick, 1996).
Considering the relationships between population size, environmental conditions, sustainable development and health, we need a worldwide effort to stabilize and reduce population. Overpopulation is also a problem closely related to the30 Baoqi Su & Darryl R.J. Macer
decreasing of resources. The one-child family policy protects some fundamental
interests of society, and the majority of Chinese people support it. The policy
limits some people’s reproductive freedom, but it may be justified given the situation facing China at present. It appears that there is social support for implementation of the policies even against personal desires for more children.
Under the serious situation of China and from the perspective of justice andbeneficence, while a couple can enjoy pursuing their individual interests theyalso think they need to consider social justice and the interests of others. Mostof the respondents that were surveyed believe that the limitation of reproduction
is a decision for the benefit of our children and the future of our planet. Chinese
people believe today’s decision will finally improve the lives of all of us. Global
equity should be a universal goal.

Acknowledgements
The authors wish to thank the participants of the interviews. We also thankProfessor Renzong Qiu, Professor Huanming Yang, Dr.Yanguang Wang, andDr. Ole Doering for helpful comments on the research.

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