[1][2] Implementation of the one-child policy included incentivizing families using privileges regarding education, living accommodations, and access to health care as well as monetary aid.
[2] While the State Family Planning Bureau sets specific expectations for the one-child policy, local family-planning departments are in charge of implementation within their own region.
Being excluded from the family register (in effect, a birth certificate), they do not legally exist and as a result cannot access most public services, such as education and health care, and do not receive protection under the law.
These women tend to avoid seeking medical care throughout the pregnancy and during delivery due to the chance they will be forced to have an abortion or the financial penalties they would face.
During the rule of Mao Zedong, the availability of safer food and water and better living conditions led to a 400% decrease in infant mortality and almost doubling of the average life expectancy from thirty years prior.
[10] As a result, Chinese government officials began drawing conclusions regarding the effect of this rapid population growth on their modernizing economy and decided that something must be done.
[11] Influenced by Chen Muhua's goal of "reducing the country's birth rate to 10% within three years,"[11] a government plan was created in 1979 to limit the number of children a mother could have to two.
"[12] This document is essential for a person to access or use any type of government service, which due to the political structure of China means that hospitals, traveling, education, and in many cases even jobs are not available.
[13] Under the Convention Against Torture Act, Chen claimed that the Chinese government was unlawfully infringing on his natural rights as a human, and that the United States was by law required to protect him.
[13] Although it appeared Chen had faced persecution in China, the Board of Immigration Appeals found that the injustices were not severe enough to warrant action by the United States.
The judicial bodies cited that since Chen was still allowed to attend school and that he was never openly confronted by Chinese government officials, his evidence of persecution was not strong enough to merit any protection from the United States.
[14] This change in policy may significantly reduce the rate of natural increase of heihaizi, due to the fact that parents will no longer need to hide a second child.