I know. Babble is usually the home to happy blog posts about cute outfits for kids but today I’m hitting on a topic that’s dark and actually very upsetting: population control laws. While we argue about reproductive rights here in the US, there are places in the world where reproductive rights are being forcibly removed in the form of forced sterilizations. Here’s what I turned up about Uzbekistan:
The secretive nation of Uzbekistan has a population of 28 million and growing. In order to control population, the government has instituted a policy of forced sterilizations of women after their second child. But according to a BBC report, the sterilizations are done without the knowledge or consent of women. Doctors are given a quota of sterilizations they have to perform, and they do them without telling their patients. The C-section rate has reportedly risen to 80% because that makes the forced sterilizations easier to perform.
I was sickened when I read that. Taking a woman’s fertility by force is a human rights violation, if you ask me.
It’s not all scary and horrible though. Russia and South Korea have gotten cute and creative in their efforts to encourage more babies. A free fridge if you give birth on a certain day? Cool!
Check it all out over at Babble!
