Population Law 3903

The law enacted some 13 years before the start of the book that limits the number of children a woman may bear to two. Women are surgically altered to prevent further pregnancies after their second child and any third children who do come to term are automatically condemned to death under the law without a hearing or a trial. Among Government officials, however, it becomes a secret status symbol to have a third child in violation of the law. The Population Law is a condemnation of Luke's human rights; it negates his very existence and denies him a place in society. Human rights are not considered inalienable under the totalitarian Government regime that controls the nation in which Luke lives. Even the rich Barons find themselves unable to flout the Population Law when their children begin to come of age. As this first generation of third children...