March
8 is International Women’s Day. Women’s Rights Without Frontiers
presents the heartwrenching testimony of Yue Zhang, who suffered a
late-term forced abortion under China’s One Child Policy in 2013,
because she was unmarried. It remains illegal under China’s Two Child
Policy for unmarried women to give birth, so these atrocities remain.
Ms. Zhang was offered the option to pay an extremely large fine, but
this fine was way beyond her reach to pay. The "terror fines" offered
by China's Family Planning Officials can be up to ten times a person's
annual income. They are not a real option for the vast majority of
women in China, who are then forced to abort if they cannot pay the
fine.
We
give special thanks to Women’s Rights in China for connecting us with
Ms. Zhang, and to The Heritage Foundation for hosting an event to shine a
light on continuing coercion under China’s Two-Child Policy.
Here is the full testimony of Yue Zhang, a young woman of remarkable courage:
My
name is Yue Zhang, I was born in Nanjing City in China’s Jiangsu
Province in 1985. First, I would like to thank Women’s Rights Without
Frontiers (WRWF) for inviting me to speak, and the introduction from
Women’s Rights in China (WRIC). I would also like to thank The Heritage
Foundation for giving me the opportunity to stand here and tell my
tragic experience of forced abortion by Chinese health and family
planning officials. It used to be a memory that I was most reluctant to
look back at, and even regarded it as extremely shameful. But today I
understand that the victim must be brave enough to stand up and tell the
truth, and show the world that the Chinese Communist Party’s family
planning policy continues to murder, fine and persecute women. Even
though the Chinese Communists have modified the policy, the act of
harming the women and destroying lives is still continuing to happen.
At
the end of August, 2013, I felt nauseous and uncomfortable. I thought I
was sick and went to the hospital for a check-up. The doctor told me
that I was pregnant. Upon hearing this news, I at first felt surprised
and happy -- I was at the proper age and always had dreamed of becoming a
mother. Every time I saw friends and classmates together with their
child, I admired them and wanted to have a child of my own. After the
initial excitement, I was also felt worried and frustrated, because I
was not married. Moreover, I had separated from my boyfriend before I
found out I was pregnant. In China, it is against the family planning
policy for unmarried women to give birth to their child. I was worried
for the future of my child, worried that he or she couldn’t obtain Hukou
(household registration). A child without Hukou is unable to go to
school, unable to receive education, and unable to have the rights to
get various vaccinations in hospital. That child will also have many
difficulties building family and career in the future. Although I had
these concerns, my right to become a mother and my desire to protect
lives allowed me to continue the pregnancy of my child. I felt happy
every time the little baby moved in my womb.
Around
5 months into my pregnancy, the government’s Family Planning Committee
found that [that I was pregnant]. One day the neighborhood Committee
waited outside my house along with Family Planning Officials. In the
beginning they were beat around the bush, but pretty soon they disclosed
the real purpose of the visit: to persuade me that, in my situation, I
had to either perform abortion or pay a large “social maintenance fee.”
After that, they left my house to let me think through my options. Read more.
