The founder and president of the organization Women's Rights Without Frontiers Reggie Littlejohn published an Op-ed on CNN condemn forced abortion and gendercide. She writes: 

"In China, the birth ratio of girls to boys is the most skewed in the world -- approximately 100 girls born for every 118 boys. When couples are restricted to one child, women often become the focus of intense pressure by their husband and in-laws to give birth to a boy." 

After spending more than a decade on the run from Chinese family planning officials, the United States granted Zhou Xiaoping and her family political asylum. Chinese authorities targeted Zhou because of her decision to have three children, a violation of Chinese family planning policies. To escape persecution, Zhou and her family first fled their hometown in Hunan Province to hide out in Tibet.

As outlined by the New York Times, economic reforms have been the focus of China’s Central Committee conferences this past week. However, significant strides were made in social policy as well. In addition to changes of the country’s One Child Policy, China has also promised reform of its re-education through labor system. Despite these strides, optimists should reign in some of their hope; Nicholas Bequelin noted that this reform "doesn’t mean that China is going to be kinder to [political] dissent."