Press Release
In True Capitalist Style, China Justifies 330 Million Abortions in the Name of Economic Interests

On the 16^th March 2013, Al-Jazeera, The China Post, and other media agencies reported on the published data from China's official Health Ministry that showed more than 330 million abortions and almost 200 million sterilizations have been performed in China since its family-planning programme to limit the population was introduced 40 years ago. This data confirms the huge scale of the social fall-out of China's cruel ‘One-Child Policy' that has caused many acts of violence against women to limit their family size as well as violation of their basic right to bear children. Millions of baby girls have been discarded or even killed throughout the cities and villages in China over the last 4 decades. China has also been embarrassed over the past year by stories that show just how far the government has gone to brutally enforce its One Child Policy: kidnapping women, dragging them into clinics, strapping them down, and aborting babies, even in the ninth month of development.

This colossal figure of abortions reflects the Chinese government's loss of a sense of humanity due to being blinded by economic interests. China has been undervaluing its own children who are the future generation of its people by viewing them as a financial burden and economic inhibitors. Its government has been blinded by the capitalist ideology which views all problems from an economic perspective and ignores the social impact of its policies on individuals and society as a whole. Capitalism is an ideology that has consistently placed financial interest above the needs of humanity, and economic growth above family life and children. Hundreds of millions of unborn babies have been discarded due to the Chinese government's belief in the false solution offered by the flawed capitalist theory of preventing poverty through population control. Capitalism carries the mistaken belief that existing resources are not enough to provide the basic needs of all people. This is despite the fact that even the UN that sponsors population control programmes across the world, acknowledges within its World Food Programme branch that there is sufficient food in the world today for everyone to have the nourishment for a healthy life.

In contrast to capitalism, Islam solves problems from the viewpoint of what is best for humanity rather than from the narrow economic perspective that defines capitalist solutions. Islam rejects the theory and policy of population control. It also rejects the capitalist materialistic view of limiting family size for economic interests that oppresses women by suppressing their natural instinct to bear children. Rather, Islam recommends having many children without the fear of poverty because its texts emphasize that provision in origin is from Allah (swt), and that He (swt) is the Sustainer and the Provider who has created enough resources in the world for every human being to sustain themselves. This unique Islamic belief nurtures a mentality within a Muslim that views having many children as a blessing to a family and to society rather than a burden to their finances.

In addition, the sound Islamic economic system distributes wealth effectively within a society to ensure that every citizen has their basic needs met as well as fair access to the wealth of their lands in order to provide them the opportunity to acquire luxuries and improve their standard of living. All this will only materialize under the shade of the Khilafah "Caliphate" system of governance that has the ability to harness the full potential of its youth through its sound Islamic policies to make them a force of good for its society. The Khilafah "Caliphate" is therefore a state that will marry economic prosperity with economic justice and equity for its citizens, alongside rejecting this flawed, harmful and oppressive concept of population control. It is a system that the Lord of the Worlds has revealed to serve the needs of humanity rather than the elite few and a human-orientated rather than profit-focused model of managing wealth and organizing the economy.

(أَلَمْ تَرَوْا أَنَّ اللَّهَ سَخَّرَ لَكُمْ مَا فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَمَا فِي الْأَرْضِ وَأَسْبَغَ عَلَيْكُمْ نِعَمَهُ ظَاهِرَةً وَبَاطِنَةً)

"Do you not see how Allah has made subjected for you whatsoever is in the heavens and whatsoever is in the earth, and He has completed and perfected His favours upon you, both the open and the hidden." [TMQ Luqman 31:20]

Dr. Nazreen Nawaz
Member of the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir