Babies help overcome the mourning

Parents who lost children in the devastating May 12, 2008, earthquake are getting back happy lives as they give birth to new babies, Sichuan provincial population authorities said.

More than 2,800 mothers, many of whom are still mourning their late children, have become pregnant and 1,662 of them had given birth by the end of 2009, said Wang Zaiyin, head of Sichuan Provincial Population and Family Planning Commission.

In July 2008, the standing committee of the Sichuan Provincial People's Congress adopted a rule to allow a family who lost an only child, or in which the child was disabled, or a family with two children who were both disabled in the disaster, to have another child. Free reproductive services and other medical support are provided for the parents.