Forced tube tying ‘illegal’

Citizens in Guangzhou are being forced to get tubal ligation if they want to give birth to a second baby, the Guangzhou-based New Express reported Thursday.

"I had to sign an agreement to get my tubes tied afterwards, otherwise they wouldn't give us a birth certificate," a citizen in the Haizhu district, surnamed Liu, told New Express.

Liu was fiercely critical of the compulsory measure by the neighborhood committee, which is in charge of issuing the certificates.

"It's not within the provincial or national policy to enforce such a measure when there are other choices for birth control like using condoms or intrauterine devices," she added.

"Forced sterilizations are illegal," Wu Youshui, a Zhejiang-based lawyer, told the Global Times on Thursday, adding that health authorities have stressed that compulsory birth control measures are forbidden.

During a press conference on March 27 about the new policy allowing couples to have a second baby if either parent is an only child, the Guangdong provincial government confirmed to the media that compulsory birth control measures are not allowed.

After recent cases of forced birth control were exposed, family planning bureaus in the city's several districts stated that telling people to get a tubal ligation was a form of advice rather than a compulsory regulation. But they admitted that there might be some deviation in implementation.

These kinds of compulsory measures have existed since the family planning policy was introduced, not only in Guangzhou, but also in many other provinces like Shandong and Hunan, Cheng Yuan, director of a Guangzhou-based nonprofit organization that tackles family planning policy issues, told the Global Times on Thursday.

"Some regions conduct a very strict family planning policy and enforce it roughly," Cheng said.

A Guangzhou citizen surnamed Ou told the Global Times that he signed this commitment four years ago while applying for a birth certificate for his second child.

"Since there are many people applying for certificates now, this measure, which has long been enforced in Guangzhou, has been put into the limelight," Ou said.

Wu said that although many people complained about the policy, few really defend themselves because they are afraid of further trouble.

Demographer and family planning expert He Yafu attributed this enforcement to laziness and poor regulation.

"The national health authority needs to specifically stipulate that these violations at the local level will be punished," He said.