Washington International Law Journal Volume 5 Number 3 7-1-1996 China's Eugenics Law as Grounds for Granting Asylum Graciela Gómez Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.law.uw.edu/wilj Part of the Comparative and Foreign Law Commons, and the Family Law Commons Recommended Citation Graciela Gómez, Comment, China's Eugenics Law as Grounds for Granting Asylum, 5 Pac. Rim L & Pol'y J. 563 (1996). Available at: https://digitalcommons.law.uw.edu/wilj/vol5/iss3/5 This Comment is brought to you for free and open access by the Law Reviews and Journals at UW Law Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Washington International Law Journal by an authorized editor of UW Law Digital Commons. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. Copyright 0 1996 Pacific Rim Law & Policy Association CHINA'S EUGENICS LAW AS GROUNDS FOR GRANTING ASYLUM Graciela G6mez Abstract: China has instituted two controversial population control programs. First instituted in 1979, the One Child Policy seeks to control population growth by limiting the number of children born to married couples. The Maternal and Infant Health Care Law ("Eugenics Law"), effective June of 1995, has a stated purpose of improving the quality of the population by mandating sterilization for people with serious genetic defects. Implementation of the One Child Policy has led to forced abortion and involuntary sterilization. The Eugenics Law is likely to engender similar types of human rights abuses. Since 1989, the U.S. Board of Immigration Appeals has refused to give asylum to Chinese nationals fleeing persecution because of reproductive rights violations.