When abortion isn't a choice
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
"...coerced abortions, as well as involuntary sterilizations, are
commonplace in China, Beijing's protestations notwithstanding. While
the Chinese Communist Party insists that abortions are voluntary under
the nation's one-child policy, electronic documentation recently
smuggled out of the country tells a different story.
"Congressional members of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission
heard some of that story Tuesday, two days before President Obama was
slated to leave for Asia, including China, to discuss economic issues.
Among evidence provided by two human rights organizations, ChinaAid and
Women's Rights Without Frontiers, were tales of pregnant women
essentially being hunted down and forced to submit to surgery or
induced labor.
"...What really
happens to a woman who doesn't have a "birth permit" and has an "out of
plan" pregnancy?
"The answer is simple and brutal: A woman pregnant without permission
has to surrender her unborn child to government enforcers, no matter
what the stage of fetal development.
"Late-term abortions are problematic, but the Chinese are nothing if
not efficient. On one Web site for Chinese obstetricians and
gynecologists, doctors recently traded tips in a dispassionate
discussion titled: "What if the infant is still alive after induced
labor?" ChinaAid provided a translation of a thread regarding an
eight-month-old fetus that survived the procedure.
"'Xuexia' wrote: "Actually, you should have punctured the fetus'
skull." Another poster, "Damohuyang," wrote that most late-term infants
died during induced labor, some lived and "would be left in trash cans.
Some of them could still live for one to two days."
"To be clear, some of the doctors online expressed concern for the
rights of the child. Others, however, worried only about potential
legal ramifications. Technically, it is illegal in China to kill a
baby, one is relieved to learn, but family-planning imperatives
sometimes prevail. According to a 2009 State Department report,
monetary incentives and penalties are attached to population targets,
creating what amounts to bounties on the unborn.
"As recently as July, officials of China's National Population and
Family Planning Commission said that the one-child policy "will be
strictly enforced as a means of controlling births for decades to
come," according to Xinhua, the state-run news agency.
"The violence of these procedures doesn't only kill the child in some
instances. In two of the cases described in a document leaked this past
August, the mothers died, too. Those who dissent, meanwhile, are
persecuted.
"Such has been the fate of activist Chen Guangcheng, who is serving a
four-year sentence after exposing 130,000 forced abortions and
sterilizations in Linyi County, Shandong province, in 2005. Named by
Time magazine as one of 2006's top 100 people "who shape our world,"
Guangcheng, who is blind, was severely beaten and denied medical care
the following year, according to an Amnesty International report.
"The one-child policy has created other problems that threaten women
and girls. The traditional preference for boys has meant sex-selected
abortions resulting in a gender imbalance. Today, men in China
outnumber women by 37 million, a disparity that has become a driving
force behind sex slavery in Asia. Exacerbating the imbalance, about 500
women a day commit suicide in China -- the highest rate in the world,
which Littlejohn attributes in part to coercive family planning.
"Obviously, the United States is in an awkward position with China,
our second-largest trading partner and the largest holder of our
government debt. But Littlejohn hopes Obama will "truly represent
American values, including our strong commitment to human rights." She
is also calling on Planned Parenthood and NARAL to speak up for
reproductive choice in China.
"On this much, both sides of the abortion issue can agree: Forced
abortion is not a choice. Averting our gaze from China's horrific abuse
of women is."
kathleenparker@washpost.com
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