In October, the People’s Republic of China announced that it was relaxing its controversial one-child policy. For nearly 40 years, most women were allowed to have only one child, under penalty of fine, expulsion from the Communist Party or forced abortion.
The policy created a dramatic sex-ratio imbalance because for cultural reasons most Chinese parents prize boys over girls. The new policy allows women to have up to two children.
Something similar has happened in Vietnam, and now the Communist government there is considering scrapping its own brutal population control policy altogether. For about 30 years, the government has urged women to sterilize themselves after having a second child, and fined those who failed to comply.
As in China, Vietnam’s population control regime has been a victim of its own success. The fertility rate there dropped from an average of 3.8 children per woman to below the replacement level of 2.1.
Vietnam’s abortion rate is thought to be among the highest in the world (the government doesn’t keep reliable statistics). Perhaps two-fifths of pregnancies end in abortion (incidentally, about the same share as in New York City).
But since Vietnam also has a cultural boy-preference, sex-selection abortions are common. This has created a sex ratio that’s badly askew: about 111 boys for every 100 girls. On top of this, Vietnam faces a shortage of workers, and is at risk of growing old before it grows rich.
The two-child limit was loosened in 2003 and then reinstated in 2009. But Vietnam’s health ministry is now considering proposals that the National Assembly may vote on in the coming months. One of the proposals would loosen the two-child policy, at least in cities. Another proposal under consideration would criminalize abortions after 12 weeks (the current limit is 22 weeks).
Unfortunately, as in China, the Vietnamese government doesn’t seem to see the error in trying to control reproduction at all. Another proposal being considered would have government bureaucrats urge women carrying babies with disabilities to abort.
Daniel Allott is deputy commentary editor for the Washington Examiner
