Research In Reproductive Rights Law In China

The perpetuation of human existence hinges critically on procreation,as is the case with all species. Reproductive rights, therefore, areuniversally acknowledged as basic human rights and are respected andprotected as such in modern society. The Chinese legislation recognizesand regulates reproductive rights predominantly from the perspective ofadministrative law, but it is inadequate for addressing the tangled andcomplex landscape of civil disputes related to reproductive rights intoday’s China, which makes it necessary to study, and subsequently improve,China’s legal regime in respect of reproductive rights.Reproductive rights have, since they were established, evolvedthrough three stages, namely, reproductive rights as women’s exclusiverights or prerogatives, reproductive rights as a married couple’s rightsand reproductive rights as the rights of a natural person. This paper,in the introductory part, interprets the history of evolution ofreproductive rights and compares and contrasts the ways in which theconcept of reproductive rights is defined in China and in some othercountries. It establishes that reproductive rights, as a concept, arebasic civil rights whereby a natural person, in accordance with pertinentlegal provisions, decides entirely at his/her discretion whether or notto reproduce, when to reproduce, how many offspring to reproduce, theinterval between births and the method of reproduction, including theright of access to information, education and means that are necessaryfor the fulfillment of the aforementioned purposes. On that basis, it goeson to analyze, in depth, the reasons why reproductive rights are basichuman rights and, therefore, statutory rights; are private rights and,therefore, civil rights; and are rights of personality. It confirmsthrough analysis that reproductive rights include, but are not limitedto, the right to make a reproductive decision, the right to know regardingmatters of reproduction, the right to reproductive health, the right toreproductive security and the right to reproductive privacy. The aim isto lay the groundwork for understanding China’s reproductive rightsregime. Today’s world is marked by the prioritization of coordinateddevelopment of population, resources, and the environment. The excessivegrowth of population is posing a host of new challenges to the exploitationand utilization of resources and the protection of the environment. Overthe last three decades, the Chinese government has succeeded in curbingpopulation overgrowth through family planning. Curtailing the exerciseof reproductive rights as basic human rights is particularly pronouncedin China, which also applies to some other rights. If holders ofreproductive rights were allowed to exercise such rights withoutrestraint, it would lead to the abuse of reproductive rights. That, inturn, would not only undermine the exercise of other rights, but also havea major irreversible impact on individuals and society alike. It istherefore necessary to place some restrictions on reproductive rights.The second part of this paper argues that the state is entitled to restrictthe reproductive rights of individual citizens on grounds of ensuringsound child rearing,development of children and the survival anddevelopment of social communities. In the light of that, an attempt ismade to examine and analyze various elements, both justifiable andunjustifiable, in the existing framework of restrictions on reproductiverights in China.The third part of this paper analyzes the inadequacies in China’sreproductive rights legislation and sets forth a vision for theimprovement of legislation in this area. The reproductive rightslegislation currently in force in China regulates the state’s authorityof reproduction management predominantly from the perspective ofadministrative law. It makes very little, if any at all, reference to thedefinition of citizens’ reproductive rights or the definition ofprinciples governing the handling of reproductive rights disputes betweena married couple and with a third party. What the current reproductiverights legislation has and does not have points to the necessity ofadjusting and improving the reproduction management regime and an urgentneed to introduce legal liability in respect of such rights. To addressthese issues, this paper advances some visions and recommendations forthe improvement of China’s reproductive rights legislation from the perspective of both administrative legislation and civil legislation inrespect of reproductive rights.