point three billion people everything from family planning programs the establishment of a birth control commission have been implemented to keep the swelling population at bay but by far the most effective and controversial of china's measures has been its one child policy its laws been in place since one thousand eighty and requires the majority of couples to pay steep fines if they have more than one child while today in a surprise decision trying to announce that if either member of a couple's only child the couple can have two children now many human rights activists are saying this simply doesn't go far enough to quell the large number of forced abortions infanticide and involuntary sterilizations nicholas backlund of human rights watch in hong kong told the washington post that quote the whole system needs to be dismantled what they're doing is just tinkering with it allowing one specific category of people to have two children the system is abusive and generates so much pain for so many. but there is far more encouraging announcement that was also said by the chinese government today the co