CONTACT: Reggie
Littlejohn, President, Women’s Rights Without Frontiers
FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE: As China’s One Child
Policy Turns 35, Woman to Abort at 8 Months, Or Husband to Lose Job
BEIJING, CHINA.
A woman “illegally pregnant” with her second child in Yunnan, China says
she feels pressured to have an illegal abortion at eight months, so that her
husband will not lose his job as a police officer. Her struggle has given rise to an outcry against the One
Child Policy in China, which will turn 35 on September 25th.
According to reports, the 41-year-old woman, who will only
identify herself as by her surname, Chen, stated, “I am fearful. If my husband believes I must abort the
child, there’s nothing I can do . . .
I am worried he would lose his job even after we lose the baby, if the
situation gets messy.”
Wen Xueping, a Yunnan Family Planning Official, stated, “No
way will we force them to have an abortion.” He did, however, warn of the consequences of having a child
without permission. These
consequences can include heavy fines and job loss for government employees,
such as Chen’s husband.
Reggie Littlejohn, President of Women’s Rights Without
Frontiers, stated, “The statement of the Family Planning Official is typical
Chinese communist double-speak. On
one hand, he says that they will not force Chen to have an abortion. On the other hand, the hefty fines he
warns of can be ten times a person’s annual salary. If a couple cannot afford to pay this ‘terror fine,’ then
they have no choice but an abortion.
This constitutes a forced abortion.”
On June 12, 2012, Women’s Rights Without Frontiers broke to
the West news of the forced abortion of Feng Jianmei, posting a heartbreaking
photo of Feng with her daughter, forcibly aborted at seven months. [Warning, graphic image.] The brutality of this violence
unleashed a firestorm of criticism against forced abortion under China’s One
Child Policy.
Littlejohn continued, “The fact that Chen is now being forced to choose
between abortion at 8 months and the loss of her husband’s job demonstrates
that forced abortion continues to this day under China’s One Child Policy. Headlines have stated that the Policy
has been ‘relaxed,’ allowing some couples to have a second child. But in the urban areas, if both members
of a couple have siblings, these couples still can have only one child. If they get pregnant without a Birth
Permit, they may still be subject to forced abortion.
“The anguish of Chen dramatically demonstrates that China’s forced abortion
policy needs to be abolished now.
Forced abortion is official government rape. The One Child Policy – having ‘prevented’ 400 million births,
too often by forced abortion -- has caused more violence against women and
girls than any other official policy on earth and any other official policy in
history. This heinous crime
against women must end.”
Sign a petition against forced abortion in China:
Read the South China Morning Post (AP) Report:
Outcry as Chinese woman considers illegal abortion at 8
months, fearing draconian one-child policy means her husband would lost job