Puning county in the southern part of China is in the middle of what you might call a “sterilization drive.” Nearly 10,000 women, identified as the worst violators of China’s “one-child policy,” have been selected for sterilization in a 20 day push.
The campaign was launched on April 7 with the aim of reducing the population in Puning county, currently the most populous county in China with a population of 2.24 million.
Puning is in the process of making a bid for promotion to a second-tier county and, in order to do so, they must meet certain quotas. One of these quotas is reducing the number of births in the county.
Feeling pressure, officials are using aggressive methods, such as the sterilization drive, to meet government quotas. One anonymous official told The Global Times: “It’s not uncommon for family planning authorities to adopt some tough tactics.”
Many women who have refused to cooperate with the sterilizations and their relatives have been detained by family planning officials. According to a report on April 16, more than 1,300 people had been detained and forced to listen to lectures on family planning while waiting for release.
These tactics seem to be working.
Doctors in the county reported early in the campaign to be working non-stop from 8 am to 4 pm everyday. By the morning of April 12, officials claimed to have already met half of their sterilization goal. With five days left to go, the successful sterilization of 10,000 coerced women seems pretty likely.
For more information on the “sterilization drive” and the realities of the one-child policy for many Chinese citizens you can read a complete report here.