One child

In 1979 China instituted a one child policy in order to curb population growth. The law was strictly enforced and resulted in the loss of millions of little girls. Academics often talk about between 30 and 60 million “missing girls” in China, apparently killed in the womb or just after birth, thanks to a combination of preference for sons and the country's decades under a repressive one-child policy. The above statement is generous in its attempt to limit the horror of what happened. In fact most of these children were born to rural families who did not have access to fetal testing and so were killed after they were born. Some babies were put into boxes and left in the woods to die. Other official reports say baby girls were disposed of by drowning, suffocation and poisoning. I suppose it was the fathers job to carry out the deed. Before Americans sit back and dwell on this uncivilized behavior they should be reminded that during this same time period 63 million babies were aborted some for very good reasons but most because of financial restraints. I was born in 1937 in the midst of the Great Depression and my parents could not afford another child but things were different in those days.