Noting China last week announced it will ease its one-child policy, allowing families with at least one parent who is an only child to have two children, a Washington Post editorial provides a brief history of the policy and writes, “It was an ill-conceived response to the overpopulation fears that had circulated in the West.” The newspaper states, “The one-child policy may have averted 200 million births over three decades. But the tragedy is that the pain and suffering was probably unnecessary.” The editorial continues, “The one-child policy was a stake driven through individual freedom,” and concludes, “Rather than continue to tinker with this misguided philosophy, China should abolish population controls altogether and unleash the ingenuity and energy of its people by allowing every one of them, individually, to make life’s most important decisions” (11/20).