Family planning officials are not beyond the law

A MAN WHO RETURNED TO HIS HOME in Zhenxiong county, Southwest China's Yunnan province, for a family reunion during Spring Festival was held by the local family planning staff and given a forced male ligation operation. Local officials justified the action by saying the man had broken the local family planning regulations by giving birth to three children with his ex-wife. Beijing Youth Daily comments:

There used to be a time when it was not uncommon for family planning officials to enforce the family planning regulation with such sterilization operations.

But the illegal practice has been gradually disappearing with the top leadership vowing to establish the rule of law. At several sessions of the National People's Congress, the nation's top legislature, delegates from all over the nation have clearly proposed forbidding family planning officials from forcing sterlization operations upon residents.