We’ve just passed another anniversary of China’s one-child policy, instituted on September 25, 1980.

When put into law, the Chinese government said it was an emergency measure that would be left in place for 30 years.

“Since the day the policy began, horrible things have happened. When families can have only one child, they choose boys. Mothers who give birth to baby girls are condemned within their culture and are often rejected by their husbands or in-laws. Trying again for a boy is dangerous. Second-time Mothers face exorbitant fines or a forced abortion,” write the editors of LifeSiteNews.

They offer this video, which estimates 37 million girls have been killed.

37 Seconds from All Girls Allowed on Vimeo.

However, is that number low?

“During a meeting with members of the House Budget Committee,” writes Stephen Mosher, president of the Population Research Institute, “Congressman Tim Huelskamp (R-Kan.) asked GaoQiang, who served for two years as the Party Secretary for the Ministry of Health of the People’s Republic of China, about the country’s population control policy.

“Through an interpreter, Party Secretary Gao responded that the population of China is 400 million less than it would have been had the Party not adopted and enforced a one-child policy. He went on to say that China had prevented more births than the population of the United States, which currently stands at 312 million.”

So, which is it — 37 million or 400 million? Either number is astronomical.

One explanation is that 37 girls were actually aborted after conception or killed upon birth. However, the 400 million figure represents China’s projected population growth had the policy — which included birth control — not been adopted, if the tradition of four, five or more children per Chinese family had continued for the last 30 years.

“That senior Chinese Communist Party officials continue to tout how ‘successful’ their brutal population control policy has been in eliminating people,” writes Mosher, “reveals their absolute contempt for international standards of human rights. After all, these numbers were achieved by forcing young women, some in the final months of pregnancy, to have abortions, an act that was declared by the Nuremburg Tribunals to be a crime against humanity.”

“Think about China’s astonishing economic performance — its annual GDP growth over the past three decades is close to 10 percent — once the Communist Party stopped trying to control all economic activity. Think of the tremendous work ethic of the Chinese people and their dedication to educating their children. Then ask yourself: Is China really better off because its leadership has eliminated 400 million one of the most intelligent, hard working, and entrepreneurially minded peoples the world has ever seen?