Ministry of Health proposes the right to self-determination on the number of children for couples

Ministry of Health proposes the right to self-determination on the number of children for couples

The Ministry of Health is proposing to develop a Population Law to meet the requirements of population work in the new situation, including a proposal to give couples the right to decide on the time, spacing of births and number of children.

In this draft law, the Ministry of Health proposes to give couples and individuals the right to decide on the time, birth spacing and number of children, ensuring that it is suitable for health and income conditions.

Illustration photo.

Previously, in the proposal to draft the Population Law sent to the Government, the Ministry of Health stated that the results of population and family planning work have increased GDP per capita by about 2% per year, contributing significantly to increasing per capita income, improving people's lives, reducing poverty, and enhancing gender equality...

According to the policy impact assessment report of the Population Law Project sent to the Government, the Ministry of Health stated that although our country has achieved the replacement fertility rate and maintained the fertility rate around the replacement fertility rate nationwide since 2006, it is not really stable.

The total fertility rate in 2022 will reach 2.01 children/woman; in 2023 it is estimated to be 1.96 children/woman, the lowest in the past 12 years and is forecast to continue to decrease in the following years.

The birth rate still varies significantly between regions and groups, and this difference has not been clearly narrowed; economically and socially disadvantaged areas have high birth rates, some very high, while in some urban areas with developed economies and societies, the birth rate has dropped, some much lower than the replacement rate.

The trend of not wanting or having very few children has appeared in some urban areas where economic conditions are developed; meanwhile, in some places with difficult economic and social conditions, the birth rate remains high, even very high at over 2.5 children.

Currently, there are 21 provinces and cities with low birth rates, some provinces even have very low birth rates, concentrated in the Southeast region, the Mekong Delta and some Central Coast provinces, with a population of 37.9 million people, accounting for about 39.4% of the country's population.

In the context of continued economic growth, increasingly rapid urbanization, and increasingly deep and broad international integration, this trend is further consolidated and spread.

Prolonged low birth rate will leave many consequences such as rapid population aging, labor shortage, and impact on social security.

International experience shows that many countries in the world have succeeded in reducing birth rates, but no country has succeeded in bringing the very low birth rate to replacement level, despite many birth promotion policies with large investment resources.

In addition, the trend of fertility rates increasing again after reaching replacement level has appeared in many provinces in the Northern Midlands and Mountains and North Central regions.

Currently, there are 33 provinces with high birth rates with a population of 39.8 million people, accounting for 41.4% of the country's population. Many provinces have very difficult socio-economic conditions and limited human resource quality.

High birth rates have negatively impacted socio-economic development, employment, health care, education, etc., increasing the development gap and quality of life of these localities compared to other localities and regions.

The policy of limiting birth rates for a long time solved the problem of scale but also left many consequences, including: the increasingly serious gender imbalance at birth;

Population quality is affected because people who do not have the conditions to raise their children well still have many children. On the contrary, if the population size is not controlled, it will directly affect investment in ensuring social security, increasing average income per capita in particular and socio-economic development in general.

Data from the Vietnam Living Standards Survey shows that, due to the reduction in family size, the average monthly income of each person in group 1 increased by 17%, group 2 by 15%, group 3 by 16%, group 4 by 11% and group 5 by 16%; the total for all groups is 14%.

The reduction in family size increased the average income per capita of group 1 by 17% in the period 2002-2010, contributing to the reduction in the poverty rate in our country.

This means that the birth rate is falling and family size is getting smaller, contributing to poverty reduction and making families more prosperous.

According to the Population Census report on April 1, 2019, TFR by quintile of fertility is only high in the poorest group (2.4 children); the remaining 4 groups (poor (2.03), average (2.03), rich (2.07), richest (2.0) are all between 2.0 and 2.07.

Based on the review opinions of the Social Committee, and at the same time, through collecting opinions from ministries, branches, agencies and organizations after the review of the Social Committee, the Ministry of Health has absorbed, revised and completed the policies in the proposal to develop the Population Law, proposing to submit to the Government including:

Policy 1: Maintain replacement fertility. Policy 2: Reduce sex imbalance at birth and return sex ratio at birth to natural balance.

Policy 3: Adapting to population aging and aging population. Policy 4: Reasonable population distribution.

Policy 5: Improve the quality of human resources. Policy 6: Integrate population factors into socio-economic development plans.

Regarding solutions and assessment of the impact of solutions on subjects directly affected by the policy and other related subjects, the Ministry of Health proposes solutions.

Among the solutions are that couples and individuals have the right to decide voluntarily, equally and responsibly on having children, the time of giving birth, the number of children and the spacing between births in accordance with the age, health status, learning conditions, labor, work, income and child-rearing of the couple and individual. They are consulted, provided with information, access, choose and use family planning measures.

Couples and individuals have the obligation to ensure the responsibility of caring for, raising and educating their children well; to build a prosperous, equal, progressive, happy and civilized family; to be equal in performing other obligations related to reproductive health care and family planning; to protect health and take measures to prevent and avoid reproductive tract infections and sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV/AIDS.

Encourage each couple and individual to voluntarily carry out the Party and State's campaigns on population work appropriate to each period.

Policy implementation measures have been reviewed to ensure their normative and feasible nature when implemented; consistent with the current legal system; creating a synchronous legal corridor to firmly maintain the replacement fertility rate (regulations integrating contents on fertility adjustment; support policies; providing counseling and support services for marriage and family; policies to expand and improve service quality; propaganda, communication, education, etc.).

The Ministry of Health explained that the regulation on the right to decide the number of children of couples and individuals is consistent with the 2013 Constitution on human rights and civil rights; consistent with international treaties to which Vietnam is a member regarding population work, and political commitments that Vietnam has made at multilateral forums on reproductive rights.

The 2013 Constitution stipulates in Clause 2, Article 14: “Human rights and civil rights may only be restricted in accordance with the provisions of law in necessary cases for reasons of national defense, national security, social order and safety, social morality, and public health”. Because population issues are closely related to human rights, the provisions on human rights in the Population Ordinance are not consistent with the Constitution.

The regulation of the rights and obligations of each couple in having children in the Population Law will help ensure the constitutionality, legality, and consistency of the policy with the legal system.

The 1979 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women - CEDAW (Vietnam has been a member since 1982) stipulates that member states "have the obligation to take all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against women in all matters relating to marriage and family relations and in particular shall ensure, on a basis of equality of men and women, the same right to decide freely and responsibly on the number and spacing of their children".

Based on the text and the aims and objectives of the Convention, this provision affirms the equality of men and women, requiring member states to eliminate discrimination between men and women in the field of marriage and family. This provision does not directly affirm the right of women to decide on the number of children and the spacing between births.

Therefore, along with the implementation of the Party's orientation to shift the focus of population policy from family planning to population and development, and the implementation of the 2013 Constitution's provisions on human rights, not regulating the number of children will be consistent with Vietnam's political commitments made at multilateral forums and have a positive impact on international public opinion.

Implementing solution 1 helps create conditions for education to shift from breadth to depth; there are conditions to allocate family resources to raising children and taking better care of the health of the elderly. Maintaining the replacement level of fertility (average fertility option) will have the following main social impacts:

Firstly, the proportion of elderly people in our country is increasing. If in 2011 our country entered the aging process (the proportion of people aged 65 and over accounted for 7% of the population), during the forecast period, the elderly population (population aged 65 and over) of Vietnam increased very rapidly, from 7.4 million people in 2019 to 16.8 million people in 2039 and reached 25.2 million people in 2069.

Vietnam will enter the aging population period from 2036, when the proportion of the population aged 65 and over reaches 14.2% with many issues regarding social security, health care and employment of the elderly.

Second, according to this forecast, the period of “golden population structure” will continue until 2039, creating favorable conditions for economic development. This result is similar for the low and medium scenarios.

Third, when the number of children is small, family resources can be better spent on raising children and taking better care of the elderly, increasing medical expenses.

Fourth, maintaining the replacement level of fertility helps to better ensure the social security system in Vietnam, meeting the basic social security rights of the people and ensuring risk prevention.

The fields of minimum education, minimum health care, minimum housing, clean water, and access to information have achieved positive results. Risks have been minimized. Social insurance regimes can cover most social insurance regimes according to international practice, including both compulsory and voluntary social insurance; gradually expanding to both people with and without labor relations, the formal and informal economic sectors.

Risk management. Policies on regular social assistance and emergency social assistance are better guaranteed. The number of people receiving regular social assistance increases.

Source: https://baodautu.vn/bo-y-te-de-xuat-quyen-tu-quyet-ve-so-con-cho-cac-cap-vo-chong-d219688.html