China's decision to allow all families to have two children rather than one has rightly been celebrated as a welcome expansion of reproductive rights. But the shift raises another question: What should the government do with the hundreds of thousands of bureaucrats who work for China's National Health and Family Planning Commission and its local offshoots, now that they'll have fewer fines to collect and births to prevent?
If hard times befall these often brutal enforcers, no tears should be shed. But there might be a very good use for them: providing family planning services to China's rapidly changing society.
The need is dire. Over 70 percent of Chinese say they've had premarital sex. Yet almost none receive proper sex education or access to family planning services and counseling. HIV infections among students aged 15 and above are growing rapidly, and abortion has become the contraceptive of first resort for many Chinese couples.