Friday, November 29, 2002

Controversy focuses on the stipulation that single women above the legal marriage age, without kids and not wanting to get married later in their lives, can give birth to a child through legal medical-assisted reproductive techniques.

The People's Congress of Jilin Province, the local legislature, found the claims were legal and endorsed them.

"This stipulation aims to protect citizen's fertility rights to the maximum," said Zhang Manliang, division chief of the Legislative Affairs Bureau of Jilin Province and advocator of the stipulation.

Wu Changzhen, an expert in marriage law and professor with the University of Political Science and Law of China, hailed the Jilin legislation as "a progress of legislation to protect women's rights."

"If there are strong voices for artificial insemination by unmarried women in a certain region, it is worth experiencing to bring this circumstance into the track of legislation," Wu said.

Supporters believe they are on firm legal ground thanks to Article 17 of the country's Population and Family Planning Law that took effect in September.

Jilin, like other provinces, was acting with full authorization to work out its own rules to execute the national law locally.

Zhai Zhengwu, director of the Institute of Population Research at the People's University, said: "When we mention the right of reproduction in the Population and Family Planning Law, we mean the reproduction behavior of a legal couple. The Jilin regulation seems to be going a bit far from the original idea of the national law."

Although all reproduction laws and policies are based on the assumption it takes place between married couples, no precondition was prescribed when the new national law was introduced.

An official with the State Family Planning Commission told reporters the Jilin bill is under re-examination by the Legislation Affairs Office of the National People's Congress Standing Committee.

Feng Xiaotian, professor of sociology with Nanjing University, said reproduction is not only a matter for a mother, but also a social behavior that brings social consequences.

"An incomplete family will bring certain congenital deficiency to the growth and life of the child, which they will not be willing to but still have to accept and which the single mothers cannot avoid and also will not be able to mend," Feng said.

Peking University Professor Xia Xueluan said: "Why should we support such behavior that could cause a series of social problems? How can we call it a progress?"