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A Year After China Quake, a Baby Boom

By Mat Probasco,  Newser Staff

Posted May 3, 2009 1:42 PM CDT
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(Newser) – The devastation is still raw from the earthquake that snuffed out thousands of young lives in rural China a year ago, reports the Los Angeles Times, but many grieving parents have found new hope in the form of another baby. More than 10% of new mothers in one Sichuan Province hospital had lost children in the quake—a grief that was only intensified by China's single-child policy.

Under fire for both its reproductive limits and its quake response, Beijing is providing fertility medication and operations to reverse vasectomies and tubal ligations for many middle-aged couples. "Now, we are better. A new life has been created to take the place of the one that was taken away," says a new father who lost his 11-year-old daughter last year.

Toys are left as an offering for a child who died in last year's May 12th earthquake in Beichuan, Sichuan, China, Saturday, April 4, 2009.
Toys are left as an offering for a child who died in last year's May 12th earthquake in Beichuan, Sichuan, China, Saturday, April 4, 2009.   (AP Photo/ Elizabeth Dalziel)
An earthquake survivor washes a baby in a plastic bathtub at the Jiuzhou Gymnasium, the biggest temporary shelter for earthquake survivors, on June 28, 2008 in Mianyang, Sichuan Province, China.
An earthquake survivor washes a baby in a plastic bathtub at the Jiuzhou Gymnasium, the biggest temporary shelter for earthquake survivors, on June 28, 2008 in Mianyang, Sichuan Province, China.   (Getty Images)
Most of these students died in the quake when their school collapsed. One parent estimates that 40% of their mothers are pregnant.
Most of these students died in the quake when their school collapsed. One parent estimates that 40% of their mothers are pregnant.   (China earthquake)
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COMMENTS
Showing 2 of 2 comments
Doctor-Zaius
May 4, 2009 11:05 AM CDT
Whew, that was close, we almost ran out of Chinese.
Forderon
May 4, 2009 3:36 AM CDT
STOP HAVING KIDS YOU IDIOTS

Chinese naming their babies "Earthquake" in memory of disaster
Xinhua (China)

Housing still hard to find for quake victims
Telegraph (UK)

 
China • birth control • birth rate • population control • Sichuan province • China earthquake • one-child policy

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