October 26, 2010
By Reggie Littlejohn, President, Women’s Rights Without Frontiers; One Child Policy Expert, Human Rights Without Frontiers and China Aid Association www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org
An appalling video of a Chinese woman forced to undergo abortion at 8 months just emerged on Youtube. It can also be found at http://www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org/blog/. It’s not graphic, but it is heartbreaking.
A brave, Al-Jazeera reporter sneaked into a Chinese hospital to speak with the woman, and later her husband, waiting outside in a car. The woman only let herself be filmed from the neck down because she was “terrified of retribution.” The film shows her with huge bruises on her arm. Her husband described the scene in which she was captured. “They held her arms behind her back, pushed her head against the door, kicked her stomach, and I don’t know whether they were trying to give her a miscarriage.” The footage shows the jail cell where she was held as they gave her 8 month unborn baby a lethal injection.
This video is further evidence that China’s coercive family planning practices cause more violence against women than any other official policy on earth. Thousands of women are being dragged out of their homes, thrown into “family planning” jail cells, strapped down to tables and forced to abort pregnancies that they want, even up to the ninth month. Forced abortion and forced sterilization are China’s war on women. The Chinese Communist Party itself has reported an annual abortion rate of more than 13 million. That’s more than 35,000 abortions a day. How many of these are forced? To see a dozen expert reports on coercive family planning in China, submitted into the Congressional Record during the hearing on the One Child Policy of November 10, 2009, click here.
I applaud the Al-Jazeera reporter for capturing this remarkable footage and bringing it to the attention of the world. I disagree, however, that this incident is unusual because it happened in “one of China’s most modern cities.” China’s coercive birth control policy is strictly enforced, both in the cities and in the countryside. The fines referenced by the report can reach 10 times a person’s annual salary. Most people cannot afford to pay these fines. What’s left for them? Forced abortion or forced sterilization. Despite these appalling human rights violations, the Chinese Communist party recently announced that it will continue its One Child Policy for “decades” to come.
To sign a petition against forced abortion and sexual slavery in China, click here.
Author’s Note: Here are links related to this Op-Ed.
China: One Child Policy Will Stand. CNN 9/27/10
Epoch Times – Of 13 Million Abortions in China, Most are Forced 8/31/09
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