On February 15, Sichuan will soon implement the new version of the "Administrative Measures for Birth Registration Services in Sichuan Province", which will no longer limit whether the registered object is married or not and how many children it has, and "any citizen with children" can handle it. Although Sichuan is not the first case, Anhui, Guangdong, Shaanxi and Fujian all relaxed the requirements of birth registration in their respective birth registration methods, but after Sichuan announced the news, it still triggered a wide-ranging discussion.
Positive changes have taken place in the policy, indicating that the fertility support policy is becoming more and more friendly. At present, the discussion around this policy focuses more on the fertility of unmarried women. Some voices said, "Does lifting the marriage restriction mean encouraging premarital childbirth?" "Will the proportion of unmarried mothers and illegitimate children increase in the future?" There are also voices that the lifting of marriage restrictions is related to stimulating population growth? Will it usher in a new turning point in population growth?
In response to the heated discussion about the birth registration system, recently, the reporter interviewed a number of demographers and lawyers who are concerned about the rights and interests of single women, and they answered ten related questions.
Q: What is the birth registration system?
Ren Yuan, a professor at Fudan University's Population Research Institute, said in an interview that the birth registration system is a transformation and rectification of the family planning management of the birth permit system, which is transformed from the original birth permit system. With the introduction of more inclusive birth policy, the whole birth management system has also changed, from birth application for birth permit to birth registration system.
Earlier, Zhang Jing, deputy director of Beijing Gaoliang Law Firm and deputy director of the Marriage and Family Professional Committee of Beijing Lawyers Association, said in an interview that birth registration essentially needs to meet the function of social management. In the past, birth service registration was a system that matched family planning. At that time, in order to facilitate birth management, people had to give birth within the scope of legal marriage.
Zhang Jing said that the birth service registration is purely a work design for managing the birth population. They only register, count, manage, analyze and report birth data, which is the responsibility of the relevant departments. "Birth service registration is not only about issuing birth certificates, but also some supporting measures, such as receiving contraceptives free of charge, which are all involved in birth service registration."
Second question: Does lifting the marriage restriction mean encouraging premarital childbirth?
The reporter noticed that in the discussion about "canceling the marriage restriction in birth registration", the opposition voice focused on the view that relaxing the birth registration policy is to encourage premarital childbirth. In this regard, Mu Guangzong, a professor at Peking University Population Research Institute, clearly pointed out in an article that canceling the marriage restriction in birth registration does not mean encouraging premarital childbearing, but making the children born out of wedlock enjoy the same treatment and protection as those born in wedlock. This is also of great significance to solving the problem of "black households" population left over from history.
Gao Mingyue, a partner and lawyer of Guantao Zhongmao Law Firm, said in an interview that this statement is "misreading". "It is very important for the state to untie fertility and marriage, but it is not necessary to get married to have children, but this logic does not mean encouraging premarital childbirth."
Question 3: Will the cancellation of marriage restrictions in birth registration usher in a new turning point in population growth?
Ren Yuan, a professor at Fudan University's Population Research Institute, pointed out in an interview that the changes in the birth registration system are not directly related to stimulating fertility. The birth registration system is no longer conditional on marriage, and it will not bring about an increase in births outside marriage.
Ren Yuan said that the original intention of canceling the marriage restriction in the birth registration system was not to increase the fertility rate, but to cancel the marriage restriction because there are more and more children born out of wedlock in society. "The discussion on this issue in society has reversed the causal relationship."