Canton, China, planning stepped-up birth curbs

The southern city of Canton will launch a birth-control campaign aimed at persuading women pregnant with their second child to have abortions, the Canton Daily reported. The city has not met its birth control target for four years, and is lagging behind other major centers in the nation's attempt to stabilize its population at 1.2 billion by the year 2000, the newspaper said.

Couples must apply to local authorities before conceiving a child, and are only given the go-ahead when there is room on the district birth plan. In many regions it can be impossible to have a second child.