Draft allows couples choice on whether to adopt contraceptive methods
China's top legislature is reviewing an amendment to the family planning law to allow couples to have a second child, a move experts believe will help ease the country's aging population and shrinking work force.
The State advocates that a couple can give birth to two children, according to a draft amendment submitted for review at the bi-monthly session of the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee which opened on Monday in Beijing.
The draft comes after the Communist Party of China's (CPC) Central Committee announced the scrapping of the current "one couple, one child" policy in October in order to stabilize population growth and offset the burden of an aging population.
Under the current law, citizens who marry late and delay childbearing may be entitled to longer nuptial and maternity leaves, while couples who choose to have only one child enjoy rewards. The draft, which states the new law would take effect on January 1, 2016, has removed those articles.
Instead, the draft allows couples with a second child to enjoy longer nuptial and maternity leaves, which analysts believe encourages childbearing.
"The popularization of university education in recent years has significantly postponed the Chinese youth's first marriage age, while pregnant women who miss their reproductive age may face both physical and mental problems, thus the draft deleted articles that encourage late marriage and childbirth," Song Jian, a demographics professor at the Renmin University of China (RUC), told the Global Times.
The draft also allows couples of reproductive age to choose whether to use contraceptives and no longer requires couples to accept family planning services, while medical institutes will also be able to employ assisted reproductive technology after being authorized based on their personnel, facilities and ethical management, the Xinhua News Agency reported.
"People should be allowed to adopt contraceptive methods instead of being pushed by the government. The amendment shows China's efforts to promote human rights and offers couples more channels for services," Song said.
Trading sperm, ovum, cytula and embryo are forbidden. Surrogate pregnancies in any form are not allowed. Those involved in such actions would receive punishment ranging from a warning and fines to criminal penalties, according to the draft.
In 2001, China's Ministry of Health issued a regulation banning surrogate pregnancies at any medical institution, leaving the activity in a gray area. "The amended law can better crack down on crimes related to the illegal trade of items such as embryos if criminal punishments are to be imposed," Zhou Xiaozheng, a professor of sociology at RUC, told the Global Times.
Li Bin, head of the National Health and Family Planning Commission (NHFPC), said the top legislature must amend the family planning law in order to implement the October decision. Li also said that the current law, which took effect in 2002, has contributed to stabilizing a low birth rate and has guaranteed a healthy and steady development of family planning, Xinhua reported.
Zhou noted that amendments to many laws have reflected the Chinese government's focus on law-based governance.
