Ally Gao

Mrs. Losch
18 November 2011
Speech/Debate 1- Block 2
The Inhuman One-Child-Policy of China
One day, twelve government officials barged into Luo Yanquans house and took his
eight months pregnant wife. He describes the moment in an interview which has been translated
to English: They held her hands behind her back and pushed her head against the wall and
kicked her in the stomach, he said. I dont know if they were trying to give her a miscarriage.
They already had a ten year old daughter. This, my fellow classmates, is one result of the OneChild-Policy in China.
This policy was created in 1979 to reduce the growing population in China. It prohibits
any couple from having a second child and will give them health care benefits if they follow it.
However, if they dont, they face harsh consequences.
The One-Child-Policy in China is a violation to human rights and should be stopped. The
reasons for this is first, it causes a sexist and gender imbalance, second, it leads to child
trafficking, undocumented or abandoned children, and divorce, third it is a violation of the most
basic human rights. Now on to the first argument against this policy.
The first argument if that this policy leads to sexist attitudes and gender imbalance. When
boys get older and get married, their wife gets there last name right? But when a girl gets older
and gets married, she gets her husbands last name. Because of this and the One-Child-policy in
China, to carry down the family name, it leads to sexist feelings and gendercides. It causes
people to have abortions because of the un-born babys gender. From 106 boys to every 100 girls

in 1979 to 123 boys to 100 girls by 2010. A drastic change for a country that has over 1.4 billion
people. And the boy ratio keeps rising as long as this policy is in place. Today, 88% of all single
Chinese between 35-39 are male. But even after the babies are born, there are other unfortunate
events because of this policy.
My second argument is that this One-Child-Policy leads to undocumented or abandoned
children, child trafficking, and divorces. As stated in my intro, there are forced abortions taken
against a womans will, and as stated in my last argument, there are also sex-selective abortions
based on the babys gender. According to allgirlsallowed.org, every 2.5 seconds, there is one
abortion in China. This graph from allgirlsallowed.org shows how China has more than ten times
the number of annual abortions than any of the following countries on this graph. Undocumented
children are children for whom their parents try to hide and are considered illegal. But they are
born on Chinese land, eat with their Chinese family, yet they are considered illegal because of
being a child that came after the first child. Child trafficking is where people kidnap children and
sell them to families that are unable to have a son for the little cost between $500-$1500
American dollars, as if you were buying a pet from a shelter. Sadly, the One-Child-Policy also
causes many divorces between couples who do not wish to have undocumented children or to
buy another child, just simply gave birth to a daughter and so the male leaves the woman and
marries someone else. According to an article from hdfs.udel.edu, after the policy was
implemented, the divorce rate went from 5% in 1979 to 15.3% in 2001. Now moving on to my
third and final argument.
My third argument is the simplest. Humans are born with the right to have the freedom of
having babies. It is the most basic right, whether its a democracy or a monarchy, you are always
able to have kids. So how can China limit its entire country to only having one child? And force

them to have abortions if they do? This policy has reduced Chinas population by 400 million.
400,000,000 babies. Some of them forced to die without ever seeing the world. This policy may
reduce Chinas population, but is it really worth it to limit a persons rights of having a baby?
The side effects of this policy are horrible as it is- adding that it was already a violation to a
human right, why is this policy still there?
After all these side effects, I say what I said in the very beginning of this speech. It is that
Chinas One-Child-Policy is a violation to human rights and should be stopped. I have talked
about three arguments of mine: one, it leads to sexist feelings and gender imbalance, two, it leads
to undocumented and abandoned children, child trafficking, and divorce, three; it is a violation of
the most basic human rights. Imagine your parents being able to only having one child. Would
you still be sitting in this room?