How does the one child policy work?

Women in America often comment on the tragedy of the one child policy. From the perspective of a woman rearing 3 children I am thankful for those experiences watching my children bond with each other. That said, most Asian women that I know do not want more than one child. They feel it is too much work, and there is so much pressure to perform for both the parents and the child that raising multiple children is just not practical.

I have heard that the government allows you to have more than one child if you and your spouse are both only children. I have also heard that you are allowed to have more than one child if your first was a girl. I suspect that many Chinese women wanting more than one child are taking fertility medications because it seems to me that there are a lot of twins. I have also know of families that want two children to have them while living abroad.

Either way the Chinese are forecasting over a 30% reduction in population within 30 years. Ultimately they may have a faster reduction than what they originally anticipated because the task of rearing children is so shunned that many woman are opting out of having children all together.