Single mothers targeted...

6/4/2013

China has a history of questionable legislation when it comes to women’s rights and rights of children… especially newborns. That being said, this past week, for the first time, single mothers are being targeted by Chinese officials.

Wuhan City in central Hubei has published a draft of a proposed law which targets mothers who have children out of wedlock. Essentially the law proposes instituting high fines to single mothers. Chinese officials argue that such a law will ensure that children will be born only within the confines of marriage, while opponents of the law say that such a law will only increase the number of abandoned children infants through the country.

There does not appear to be anything in the law which targets the men involved in the creation of these children… just the women.

Last month a baby was found in the sewer in Zhejiang province. The mother claimed that she was not married and had hidden the pregnancy from her parents… she said she could not afford an abortion so she carried the baby to term then abandoned it.

If this suggested law goes into effect, there could be an increase of such abandonment.

Thoughts?

Nicole Langlois period 4

6/3/2013 10:00:15 pm

I think that this law is ridiculous. Men should get fined too because it is not just the womens fault. Having a higher abandonment rate could be really scary because no one wants to see infants left alone to die that is horrible. I think the should revoke the law on women because it is their choice most of the time to have a baby then get married, or sometimes their husbands leave them after finding out she will have a baby.

Ryan Grundy Period 4

6/3/2013 10:00:31 pm

I think they should not make a new law that Focus on single Mothers, because There would most likely be a increase in abondoned and aborted babies.

Nick Yehle

6/3/2013 10:02:22 pm

This is a good thing that this is going into affect. Once this goes into affect or if it goes into affect i think we will see less abandonments of a child. The fact that this lady left her child alone and abandoned it is just wrong. i think once this happends or if it does it will be safer for children and for the women.

Nick Yehle

6/3/2013 10:03:04 pm

per.4

Matt Carney Per. 4

6/3/2013 10:08:10 pm

I think that this law is stupid. Having a high abandonment rate can be scary because infants will be left alone to die. The fact that a lady left her child in a sewer is horrible. Sewers are toxic and are bad to be in especially so young.

Makenzie Driscoll Period 4

6/3/2013 10:08:25 pm

I think that there is no reason to have this law. Every choice that you make should be up to you, the state should have no right in what you do unless it involves them. The only reason this baby was put in the sewer was because the mother had no other choice because her family and the goverment. Im not saying that it wasnt right, because it wasnt its just that the goverment lead her to due such a terrible thing.

David p.4

6/3/2013 10:09:40 pm

Don't people in the U.S pay child support? So why are the mothers getting a higher fine forr stuff when they're already dealing with the struggle of raising a child on there own? This is just going to cause the rate of abortions to increase. Im totally against abortion thats one thing i absolutley hate, and they're just making it happen more. This Has to be the STUPIDEST law I've ever heard of.

Julia Period 6

6/3/2013 11:25:12 pm

This ios crazy men should get fined too. Its not just the women fault the men had something to do with it too. But honestly i think this law is stupid because why should a women get fined for being a single mother? This world is becoming a little out of control. Women should stop getting fined for stupid reasons.

Brandon Lawton Period 6

6/3/2013 11:26:22 pm

This law is ridiculous. Obviously mothers will abandon infants more often if they are trying to avoid a fine and hide it. This law will only make things worse. The only thing China should do is to persuade their people that it is important to only have kids in marriage. This law is unnecessary, especially when the law is targeting only half the problem. Men play a role in the baby too, and the law excludes them from anything. China is such a backward country.

Dylan period 6

6/3/2013 11:29:03 pm

I think this is terrible and the law should not be passed. I don't think a government has any business dealing with people's children and their marriages. I think if a woman has a child out of wedlock they shouldn't be fined and even if they are fined the man should get equal punishment. I don't think the Chinese government should pass the law and they should instead try to help any single mothers.

Daniel Pietrantonio Period 6

6/3/2013 11:29:27 pm

This is ridiculous, for many reasons. The Chinese government isnt going to punish the fathers just the single mothers, so that seems to be very sexist. Also the single mothers are probably the ones who need the most money to take care of there children so if you are fining them that is very unfair.

Christina Genuario Period 6

6/3/2013 11:31:04 pm

This law is absolutely ridiculous! It is not the mothers fault for having a baby without a spouse. If the husband died, then that's nobody's fault. If they left the woman when she was pregnant, than it's their fault not the woman's fault! Fining the women for something like that is awful and completely unfair. This is why people are leaving infants on the streets to die, and this law should be abolished.

Sophie period 6

6/3/2013 11:38:15 pm

Men should be fined too if this is going to happen. In some cases if women have been raped and produced a baby after then will the woman still be fined? That is horrible and ridiculous.

Ethan Miller Period 6

6/3/2013 11:42:43 pm

This is horrible! Thank God we live in a country where there's no law saying when and how you can have a child. What if the woman got raped?! What if she really wanted to have a child, but she wasn't able to be married?! This law needs to end. If this law or "fine" was ever issued in the United States, I don't even want to know what the repercussions would be!

Daniel Peladeau Period 6

6/3/2013 11:52:12 pm

This law is crazy, for many different reasons. The Chinese government should give more rights to women because it seems like all of their laws go against women and never against the men. They need to have equal rights in order to be fair to everyone in the country. Especially the new pregnancy law, it should be against both the male and the female because the male is also a vital part of the pregnancy. So, why not penalize both of them so it will be fair. This law needs to be changed to include both sides of the conflict or the law should be taken away along with many other laws that are degrading to women.

Alexis Lavallee period 5

6/4/2013 07:14:22 am

This is absolutely sickening to me. How can a country create laws that are so cruel towards humanity? I don't understand where the Chinese government is trying to go with this... If this law passes, I'm sure there will be an outrageous abandonment rate. I also think it's ridiculous that only the single women are being targeted... not the men. Why do women continue to suffer when men get off so easy?

Austin Period 1

6/4/2013 07:52:09 am

It interests me that men are not targeted in this too but it does not surprise me because a lot of things only focus on women in other countries. As for the issue itself I do not like the idea because who in there right mind would take away a child from there own parents unless the child was in danger.

Claudia period 6

6/4/2013 10:21:10 pm

This sounds like a horrible law. Not only because it targets only the women and not the men (who obviously are also involved), but also because there's a chance that it could increase child abandonment. That woman had to leave her baby in a sewer because she wasn't married. Hopefully this law doesn't go into effect because it could mean large numbers of kids growing up without parents or even dying young because they were abandoned somewhere.

Danika Wayss Period 6

6/5/2013 12:15:09 am

It is crasy to hear about the laws and cultures of other countries. This kind of law would never be passed in the United States (I hope). I do not understand why they would even find it okay to fine single mothers unless there goal is to have the streets of China cluttered with abandoned new born babies. I also find it odd that they are only targeting the mothers and not the fathers. I understand I would be harder to fine the father because they do not always know who it is but if you cannot fine the father you should not be able to fine the mother.

Christian Gamez Period 5

6/5/2013 05:14:50 am

I find this disgusting. Women should not have to pay a fine for being a single mother, in any case they should be given assistance. I may be only saying this due to our culture in the US but it is something that must be accepted by other countries and cultures. Just that story alone of the women who had to abandon her child shows the flaw in this law.

Mackenzie Egan Period 6

6/5/2013 05:29:58 am

This is so insane. When i hear about the laws of different countries and cultures, i think how lucky we are but i also think about how crazy they are and how this needs to end. I hate how this targets single mothers because in my opinion they are some strong people. I really hope this law does not pass.

Ethan Schneider period 1

6/5/2013 10:25:04 am

Paying a fine being a single mother? Isn't it hard enough to just be a single mother never mind paying a fine. This is sad. Its crazy how different how other countries are, we would never have that here.

Rebecca Per. 2

6/5/2013 11:30:30 pm

It doesn't surprise me that men aren't penalized for making a child out of wedlock. China is a country where is it better to have a son than a daughter. I don't think the government even realizes or cares that there will be all of these babies with no mother or father if this law gets passed. I have so much respect for women who are able to keep their own life in order, along with raising a child on her own, but apparently that strength means nothing to the Chinese government.

Nicole Morales Period 6

6/6/2013 06:28:19 am

How does law even make sense to them. It seems pretty obvious that the already high number of abandoned children would go up with this new law. If anything, these children and mothers need to be cared for. It is horrible to think that these mothers feel so helpless that they abandon these helpless little babies. And with these fines, the mothers are going to be even more backed into a corner because they don't have the money. This law is also not accounting for the fact that it takes TWO people to make a baby and it's not just the mother. They are also not thinking about the possibility of rape. I just don't like it at all and it seems really wrong.

Mikaela period 1

6/6/2013 07:14:16 am

I do not agree with this law. The parents of kids should have responsibilities of taking care of their children. Also they should not only punish one parent, the males took part of this too in order to make this baby.

Steven Johnson period 6

6/6/2013 10:12:14 am

I don't agree with this law at all. Mistakes can happen and this will make poor single mothers more likely to leave or even kill their child such as this case. I also think that the male should be punished as well because he was involved also

Darren Grant Period 6

6/6/2013 11:14:27 am

This law doesnt make sense to me. Although mistakes happen take all the time, women shouldnt have to fear abandoning their child/children. Descrimination agaisnt women in China is just protecting the men because they are the main cause of these subjects.

Alexia M period 6

6/6/2013 08:52:19 pm

This is crazy. Hearing about the abandonment of these young children is harsh and wrong. I understand that the mother had to do what she had to do to keep from paying the huge fine but she could have hid it in her house or in a safer place where the child would have more of an opportunity to live. This law sounds pointless to me because it wont stop people from having children out of wedlock. All it would do is more abortions will happen and abandonment will be more popular.

Sarah Reilly Per.2

6/6/2013 10:01:46 pm

I have always given single mothers props for being able to keep a job, get food on the table, bring their kids places, all while maintaining the rent/mortgage. I cringe at the thought of even wondering what will happen to all of those children if their mothers let go of them no matter the age. The reason this happens to women is because of men so the men should be penalized in some way as well.

Sam Malm period 1

6/6/2013 11:21:43 pm

Nothing about most laws in China make sense to me that much. But this law is a whole new level of why the heck China wants to do this. I can grasp the fact that they want to lower population but only letting married women have childeren is a bit off

Bryant Per.5

6/7/2013 04:26:19 am

This is a terrible idea; all this is going to do is make life even harder on single mothers and cost the life of numerous babies because mothers won't be able to afford them or the fines. This will also upset many men because now woman won't be as willing to have sex because they'll be afraid of the fines.

Oanh nguyen period 5

6/7/2013 07:22:52 am

This law is ridiculous and sexist. Why should only the mothers be fined when the fathers are also responsible? This law will only increase the number of infants without parents. Even if the babies are considered a "mistake," they should still be cared for because they did nothing wrong. This law will only cause trouble.

Andrea Henninger, period 5

6/7/2013 08:06:40 am

This law is awful for so many different reason. First of all, it is not fair. To be more specific though, I do not think that it is right for them to just assume that the mother is a single parent because she got pregnant before getting married. They have no way of knowing that, maybe she is single because her husband died, which she obviously can not help that. Or maybe she was in a very bad marriage and had to get a divorce. How can they punish a single mother for being a single mother for circumstances completely out of her control? This new law is so ridiculous.

Leah Fitz-Simon Period 6

6/7/2013 09:49:00 am

This is a ridiculous law. Yes, China is a very overpopulated country, but this law is a little extreme. Also, I don't think that this law should only target the women: men are just as much a part of having a child as women are. Also, that woman who left her newborn in the sewer made me sick.

tiana Dickenson Per. 4

6/7/2013 11:10:00 am

I don't think it is right to resrtict people from having children. It is kind of a natural thing that humans do so that is one reason the law is wrong to me. I mean yeah china is oveer populated but you can't go around telling people to have kids or not to have kids...it is just weird and wrong.

Gabble Demers period 5

6/7/2013 11:50:24 am

This is scary, it's unbelievable that people are so scared of the gov that they will leave there children alone to die, not even an orphanage, it's sad to say but I think this law may stop a few people but not enough and with the adoption rate so high even if they did put these children in orphanages who knows how long they'd be there. What gets me more then anything though is the fact that there is nothing about the man who created the child as well, as if it's okay for the guy to do it. How much they target women is horrible and leaves me speechless!

Victoria Period 5

6/7/2013 01:54:38 pm

Let me just say I'm sure glad I not be a female living in China. This is so frustrating to constant women's rights movements. Why is a baby born out of weedlock now just the punishment for the woman involved? The male has an equal role in that process and decision. It's just so upsetting as a female to hear about the lack of advancements in other places for women. I can see the abandonment rate increase due to this new law in China, which will leave even more children in orphanages.

Arden Bastia period 6

6/12/2013 06:24:13 am

Wow...am I ever glad that I'm not a woman in China! In my opinion though, the women shouldn't just be targeted. I mean, the men have an important role in this situation too. Women shouldn't be singled out for something that wasn't entirely their fault. Also, why would a country want to be covered in abandoned babies? That makes me really sad!

Jonathan Provencal Period 4

6/13/2013 08:52:57 am

This is the stupidest proposal I have ever heard of in my entire life. I do not care if a child is born out of wedlock and the government of China should not care either. This seems to have to do with more religious reasons than the reasons they think. They should not be fining people for such a thing unless they have cured cancer and ended hunger forever. Otherwise, they are just being cruel to the mothers.

katie lundin period 6

6/14/2013 05:55:57 am

wow. really china? this is the most horrible law I have ever heard. It's not only wrong to not allow women to have a child without a spouse but if a man is not married and he has a child that's ok!!! and I can't believe women are starting to just abandon their babies and leave them in the streets like they are trash! women in china should be protesting against this and restore the level of respect that they deserve.

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