As Communist authorities in China make new efforts to enforce old laws, they call fresh attention to long-standing questions about the value of human life in their country of 1.3 billion people.

Since 1979, a “one-child” policy has restricted Chinese families to one child each in urban areas or at most two children in rural areas. Officials estimate some 400 million births have been obviated, but also say the sometimes-haphazard enforcement of these laws has “undermined social equality.” Wealthy citizens are often willing to pay heavy fines to have “extra” children.

Last year, 93,084 people in the Hubei province alone had more children than the law allowed. The government recently fined 1,678 of these people, stripped them of their government posts, or expelled them from the party.

Steven Mosher, President of the Population Research Institute told WoW that because the Chinese cultural ideal promotes “late marriage, few children, and quality children,” population restrictions create intense social pressure to breed “a better man and a better Chinese woman.” The dark nature of these idealizations manifests itself in late-term abortions, infanticide, and forced sterilization of the handicapped and mentally disabled. To Mosher, “Eugenics policy is part and parcel of the one-child policy.”

But with parents willing to pay a premium for more kids, Mosher blames the Chinese political structure for setting the price of life so cheaply: “There may be a lot of hostility on the lowest levels, but the policy is put in place by the highest and can only be undone by the highest levels.”

Mosher said undoing the policy isn’t likely: “The Chinese political party has so much political capital invested in this policy they are almost afraid to back off. It would undermine the legitimacy of the party.”