Nothing's changed in China's anti-population push and now the State Department has fortified the case with its most damning evidence of the country's one-child policy. State's 2002 human-rights report, released on March 31, is "very encouraging" in its exposition of the apparatus that enforces China's one-child policy, said Scott Weinberg of the Population Research Institute.

The report chronicles government coercion of couples with unplanned pregnancies: Pay the "social-compensation" fees which can be as high as several years' wages for a worker or risk losing your job. Couples who have an unapproved child face higher tuition costs for the child or no social services, and authorities discourage excess births in the provinces by punishing local officials or the mother's work unit. "These Draconian penalties sometimes left expecting mothers with little choice but to undergo abortion or sterilization," the report says.

More significantly, the report notes that the 32 counties that the United Nations Population Fund worked in did not scale back the one-child policy, but instead promoted birth control and enforced the policy through measures such as social compensation fees. "UNFPA claims that it's the catalyst for reforms of the one-child policy are completely unfounded," said Mr. Weinberg. "They've had four years to lie about it. And they continue to lie."

Reprinted with permission, WORLD magazine Copyright 2003 For information, visit www.worldmag.com

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