Fertility and family planning in rural Tibet

The conflict over the political status of Tibet1 has damaged China's relations with the West. Serious accusations have been made about human rights abuses and religious persecution. One of the most consistent of the charges has been that the Chinese government practices coercive family planning in Tibet by imposing strict birth limits and forcing women to undergo abortions and sterilizations. A highly critical report was jointly submitted to the United Nations in 1998 by the International Committee of Lawyers for Tibet, the Women's Commission for Refugee Women and Children and the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy. Based mainly on refugee accounts, it paints a horrific picture of repressive birth control in Tibet, including forced abortions, sterilizations and huge fines and penalties. These charges are vigorously denied by the Chinese government and Chinese researchers. Are such reports, then, accurate depictions of life in contemporary Tibet? Is the Chinese government really forcing Tibetans to undergo unwanted abortions and sterilizations to achieve state-set birth limits, and if not, what is the reproductive life of Tibetan villagers really like? We designed and conducted a study to fill this gap in knowledge by examining reproduction, child mortality and contraception on site among a large sample of women living in diverse areas of Tibet.