Controversy has long surrounded China’s one-child policy, not only because it was a radical intervention by government in the reproductive lives of citizens but also because of how it was enforced and because of some of its unintended consequences. Although some enforcement methods were mild, such as providing contraceptives and offering incentives for compliance, millions of Chinese had to endure stricter methods, such as forced sterilizations and forced abortions. Long-term unintended consequences of the policy included a decline in the number of females in China (in 2016 there were 33.59 million more men than women), a population that was aging too rapidly, and a shrinking workforce.
