Contact: Reggie
Littlejohn, President, Women’s Rights Without Frontiers
Has his job really been “reinvented,” or is he really a member of the womb police, masquerading as “Chinese Father Christmas” -- the new face of China’s Family Planning Police? Buried deep in the article is the following account of the dark side of Li Bo’s job – an important piece of original reporting by the BBC:
Email: reggielittlejohn@gmail.com
Cell: 310.592.5722
WEBSITE: www.womensrightswithoutfrontie rs.org
FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE: Debate: Clinton WRONG on Forced Abortion in
China
In the Presidential
debate against Donald Trump tonight, Hillary Clinton made the following
statement:
I’ve been to
countries where governments either forced women to have abortions, like they used to do in China . . . (emphasis
added).
See, Trump,
Clinton Spar Over Late-Term Abortions (at 1:00-1:05)
http://video.foxnews.com/v/517 7606697001/trump-clinton-spar- over-late-term-abortions/?#sp= show-clips
Reggie
Littlejohn, President of Women’s
Rights Without Frontiers, stated, “With all her experience as former
Secretary of State, it is untrue and deeply disappointing for Hillary Clinton
to put the Chinese government’s practice of forced abortion in the past. If she thinks that China no longer
forces women to abort babies, she should explain that to a couple, surnamed
Zhong, who in August of this year were forced to choose between an
abortion at eight months or the loss of both of their government jobs. Or she should inform He Liping,
who was forced either to pay an impossible “terror fine” of $39,000 or face
abortion at six months.
“Or
perhaps she should read the May 4, 2016, BBC article entitled ‘Reinventing China’s Abortion Police,’ which discusses
a small collaborative project by Stanford University and Shaanxi Normal
University to repurpose 69 Family Planning Officials -- apparently on the
assumption that they are no longer needed now that China has moved to a
two-child policy.” The article follows one Family Planning Official, Li Bo, who
has been “reinvented” from “hunt[ing] down families suspected of violating the
country’s draconian rules on how many children couples can have” into a rubber
duckie squeezing, nursery rhyme singing “Chinese Father Christmas,” complete
with “a bag full of toys and picture books.” Has his job really been “reinvented,” or is he really a member of the womb police, masquerading as “Chinese Father Christmas” -- the new face of China’s Family Planning Police? Buried deep in the article is the following account of the dark side of Li Bo’s job – an important piece of original reporting by the BBC:
Since the start of 2016, all Chinese
couples have been allowed two children.
But they can have no more than that unless they are from ethnic
minorities – so Li Bo still spends some of his time working as a birth-control
enforcer. In the town’s health
clinic he is busy screening local women.
All women of childbearing age have check-ups four times a year to ensure
they’re healthy . . . and to see if they are pregnant. . . But Li is also a
loyal Communist party official who believes the state knows best and society’s
needs are greater than those of individuals. So he is matter-of-fact about the unpleasant task of telling
women who couldn’t afford the fine to terminate their pregnancies. “People didn’t swear at us but they
probably did behind our backs,” he says.
“It’s natural because we were carrying out the law and they were
breaking it so it is just like the clash between a policeman and a thief.” He adds that as long as restrictions
are in place, such clashes will continue.
From these words,
uttered by a Chinese Communist Family Planning Official, we learn that:
1)
Coercive pregnancy screening continues. Under the
Two-Child Policy, Family Planning Police continue to screen women of child-bearing
age for pregnancy four times a year.
2)
Forced abortion continues. It is still illegal for single women to
have babies in China, and for couples to have third children. It appears that some may be given an
opportunity to pay a fine, but Li Bo tells “those who couldn’t afford the fine
to terminate their pregnancies.”
In other words, if a woman is illegally pregnant and cannot pay the fine
– which can be as much as ten times her annual salary – she is forced to
abort. Forced abortion, therefore,
continues under the Two-Child Policy.
3)
Women pregnant without permission are considered criminals. Li Bo’s
statement that women who are pregnant without permission “were breaking it [the
law] so it is just like the clash between a policeman and a thief” demonstrates
that such pregnancies are still considered illegal; and illegally pregnant
women are regarded lawbreakers deserving of punishment, just like thieves.
4)
Forced abortion continues to cause unrest. Li Bo is correct
in adding that “as long as restrictions are in place, such clashes will
continue.” This statement is an
admission that these clashes – often resulting in forced abortion – continue to
this day, due to the two-child restrictions.
Littlejohn
concluded: “The Chinese Communist
Party has not agreed to get out of the bedrooms of the Chinese people, and
Presidential candidates should not be stating or implying that they have. We need to keep the international
pressure on the Chinese Communist Party until all coercive population control
is eradicated.”
Take action by
signing WRWF’s petition
against forced abortion in China.
Watch -- Stop Forced Abortion – China’s War on Women! Video (4 mins)
Related Links:
Reinventing China’s
Abortion Police 5/4/16
http://www.bbc.com/news/magazi ne-36203572
http://www.bbc.com/news/magazi
Guangdong Families
Told to Have Abortion or Lose Job 7/22/16
http://www.sixthtone.com/news/ guangdong-families-told-have-a bortion-or-lose-job
http://www.sixthtone.com/news/
Chinese
Government Sources Admit Forced Abortion Continues Under Two-Child Policy 8/9/16
China: Forced Abortion at Six Months; Pregnant
Women Told They “Deliberately Broke the Law” 8/28/16