ChinaAid’s Bob Fu Testifies Before U.S. Congress about One-Child Policy & Forced Abortion in China

China Aid Association
(Washington, D.C.—July 9, 2012) ChinaAid founder and president Bob Fu testified at a hearing of the U. S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs’ Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health and Human Rights on Monday afternoon about China’s forcibly enforced “one-child” policy and the recent forced abortion cases that have shocked the world.

2012-07-09 Abortion Hearing[3]2012-07-09 Abortion Hearing-2[4]

Below is the full text of Pastor Fu’s prepared remarks:

Chinese society and the international community
should work together to end China’s forcibly enforced “one-child” policy
— Government forcibly aborts Christian Feng Jianmei’s seven-month unborn baby, husband later suffers government persecution
China Aid Association Testimony before
U. S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs (COFA)
Hearing of the Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health and Human Rights
on “Continued Human Rights Attacks on Families in China”
2 p.m., July 9, 2012,
Rayburn House Office Building, Room 2172, Washington, D.C.

This is what the Lord says: “A voice is heard in Ramah, mourning and great weeping, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more.”  (Jeremiah 31:15)

On June 2, 2012, in Zeng Family town, Zhenping county, in Shaanxi province’s city of Ankang, Ms. Feng Jianmei, more than seven months pregnant, was abducted by local government officials and taken to a hospital where she was forcibly aborted of her unborn baby.  On June 6, local “family planning” officials and government officials in Changsha, Hunan province, dragged Ms. Cao Ruyi, who was five months pregnant, to a hospital, beat her, and were about to force an abortion on her.  However, due to the immediate advocacy of China Aid Association, especially a timely letter from Congressman Chris Smith to the Changsha government in Hunan province, as well as the efforts of the international community, Ms. Cao Ruyi and her unborn baby are safe―for the moment.  On June 19, pregnant Hu Xia of Zhengjiamen village, Shangche town, Jianli county, Hubei province, was forcibly taken to People’s Hospital by local officials and given an injection to induce a miscarriage.  Two days later, she delivered a dead nearly eight-month fetus. 

These three cases in June that exposed the government’s role in forced abortions in China shocked the international community and set off a wave of criticism.  However, these cases are only the tip of the iceberg; numerous forced abortion tragedies occur every single day in China.  The massive violation of the rights of women and their unborn babies through government action and by legal means in the implementation of China’s forcibly enforced “one-child” family planning policy has been going on for over thirty years already.  The international community is late in expressing its concern and criticism.  In this context, even more does U.S. congressman Mr. Smith deserve our respect for his lone but persistent cries and efforts to end China’s forcibly enforced “one-child” policy.  His contribution will be remembered in the history of human rights in China and the world. 

I.    A brief introduction to the Feng Jianmei forced abortion case On June 11, 2012, Mr. Huang Qi, a veteran political dissident from Sichuan province, was the first to post Feng Jianmei’s story on his website “64Tianwang,” accompanied by a picture showing the dead fetus by the mother’s side.  It attracted worldwide attention and condemnation. 

Feng Jianmei, a villager from Unit 2, Yuping village, Zeng Family town, Zhenping county, Ankang city, Shaanxi province, was abducted by local officials and taken to a hospital on June 1 while her husband, Deng Jiyuan, was working out of town.  On June 3, her seven-month unborn baby was forcibly aborted. 

On learning of Feng Jianmei’s case, Mr. Zhang Kai, a young well-known Chinese Christian lawyer, wrote on his blog publicly announcing that he was willing to take on this case.  Zhang is known for having handled two cases that shocked the nation, the famous “My father is Li Gang” hit-and-run case and the Qian Yunhui case in Zhejiang province, as well as the persecution case last October of Christians in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa.  Mr. Yang Zhizhu, a former law professor at China Youth College of Political Sciences who has long been concerned about and has condemned the one-child policy, also started to take part in this rights defense case. 

In the face of powerful condemnation from the international community, China’s official media reported on June 15 that Ankang city officials in Shaanxi province had visited the forced abortion victim Feng Jianmei and her family the previous evening and apologized to her, and had said they would hold accountable the officials who were involved. 

On June 22, the government retaliated by beating Feng Jianmei’s husband, Deng Jiyuan, and putting him under surveillance.  On June 24, the government sent people to display a banner in front of their home that read: “Beat up traitors, run them out of the Zeng Family town”.  After dinner that day, Deng Jiyuan shook off his “tails” and escaped.  In the following three days, he avoided multiple closely guarded government checkpoints, and on the night of June 27 boarded a train in Shiyan city, Hubei province.  After he arrived in Beijing on the morning of the 28th, he met with lawyer Zhang Kai and Yang Zhizhu and signed papers authorizing them to be his legal representatives in filing a lawsuit and applying for state compensation. 

The Zhenping county government office director, the newly appointed mayor of Zeng Family Town, and a village official from Yuping village, where Deng Jiyuan lives, went to Beijing, and on July 1 at 3 p.m., they met and talked with lawyer Zhang Kai and Yang Zhizhu.  They were hoping to see Deng Jiyuan in person.  During the meeting, the village official claimed that abortion was no a big deal where they are from. 
On July 7, lawyer Zhang Kai sent a legal letter to the Public Security Bureau and Procuratorate of Ankang city, Shaanxi province, requesting them to place the case on file and start an investigation. 

II.    Chinese society and the international community should make every effort to end the ongoing tragedy of China’s forcibly enforced family planning policy That Feng Jianmei’s case attracted such widespread concern from the Chinese public and the international community so quickly is attributable to three main factors:  the larger context of the recent Chen Guangcheng incident, the photo showing the seven-month dead fetus and the despair on the mother’s face, and the timely participation of Christian lawyers.  This is the result of the united efforts of people inside and outside of China who stand for justice.  

On July 5, the European Parliament voted on and passed a “Resolution on the forced abortion scandal in China (2012/2712(RSP)” in response to the tragedy of Feng Jianmei’s forced abortion, strongly condemning the human rights abuses committed in the enforcement of China’s one-child policy.  This is a historic step made by the international community in attaching great importance to the rights of women and children. On the same day in China, in response to Feng Jianmei’s case, five prominent Chinese scholars and a number of corporations issued an open letter co-signed by other influential academics to the National People’s Congress and its Standing Committee.  The co-signers were 10 others from some of China’s top universities, including Beijing University, Qinghua University, China People’s University, Chinese University of Politics and Law, Beijing Normal University.  The letter asked legislators to completely revise the Population and Family Planning Law, to repeal restrictions on citizens’ reproductive rights, and to abolish the birth approval system and the system of social child-raising fees. 

In Feng Jianmei’s case, we see not only the great force of justice in Chinese society and the international community, but also that in a Chinese society where political corruption and bankrupt moral ethics prevail, the Christian faith is providing strong support to the people’s pursuit of justice and love, and is also giving them the courage to stand up to evil forces.  The forced abortion victim Feng Jianmei and her husband, Deng Jiyuan, are both Christians.  On the very night when Deng Jiyuan fled to Beijing, he fellowshipped with lawyer Zhang Kai and Yang Zhizhu and they studied and discussed the Bible together.  As a Christian rights defense organization, ChinaAid in its ten years of ministry has witnessed the Christian faith bringing great changes to the lives of the Chinese people and Chinese society.  These changes will eventually bring forth a prosperous China that upholds justice, love and peace and actively shoulders its international responsibilities. 

Feng Jianmei’s tragedy is repeated hundreds and thousands of times each day in China.  Recently, ChinaAid learned of more such cases.  Guo Yanling, a Christian from Guangxi province, was persecuted by the government for having more than one child and forced into exile for 21 years.  The wife of Wu Liangjie from Xianyou county, Fujian province, was abducted and held by the government, and on April 6 this year, she was forcibly aborted of her more-than-seven-month unborn baby boy. 

We at ChinaAid are willing to work with everyone in and outside of China to end this long and violent war against millions of women and children in China.  We call upon Congress and the Administration to follow the example of the European Parliament in taking specific measures and steps to help China end this cruel one-child policy and the evil practices of forced abortion and forced sterilization.  We urge the Obama Administration to add this issue of human rights abuses in family planning to the agenda of bilateral talks on human rights and the U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue.  We ask the Senate and the House to pass a strong joint resolution to express the will of the American and Chinese peoples to work toward the abolishment in China of the one-child policy.  Finally, those abusive officials should be held accountable according to international law for their evil illegal behavior in harming women and unborn babies.  The State Department should place travel bans on individuals like them who carry out China’s forced abortion policies, and should make sure that no U.S. funds go to assist China’s family planning agencies.

By the mercy and grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, let us make concerted efforts for the early arrival of that day. 

China Aid Association
Founder and president Bob FU
July 9, 2012


China Aid Contacts
Rachel Ritchie, English Media Director
Cell: (432) 553-1080 | Office: 1+ (888) 889-7757 | Other: (432) 689-6985
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.chinaaid.org

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ChinaAid’s Bob Fu Testifies Before U.S. Congress about One-Child Policy & Forced Abortion in China

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