Many are shocked and enraged following the recent surfacing of photos showing a Chinese woman lying next to the lifeless body of her forcibly-aborted baby girl.
The situation occurred on June 3rd in Shanxi Province, where Feng Jianmei, her husband and six-year-old daughter reside. Jianmei was expecting her second child, which is prohibited under the country’s one child per family policy. Because she and her husband did not pay a mandatory $6,000 down payment fine for not aborting their baby, who was now seven months in gestation, a gang of family planning officials beat Jianmai, placed a pillowcase over her head, and transported her to an undisclosed location where she underwent a forced abortion.
According to reports, officials inked Jianmei’s thumb and forced it against an “abortion consent” form. The baby was then injected with fatal toxins.
“I could feel the baby jumping around inside me all the time, but then she went still,” Jianmei told a friend.
The following day, she gave birth to the dead baby, a girl, who was laid next to her on her bed.
“The baby was lifeless, and she was all purple and blue,” Jianmei recounted.
While some may think that what happened to Jianmei is an extraordinary situation, others who are familiar with Chinese law and culture say that her story is an example of the regular practice of forced abortion in China. Bob Fu of the Christian humanitarian rights organization ChinaAid told Christian News Network that over 400 million children have been aborted in China — more than the entire population of the United States.
“This is just the tip of the iceberg,” Fu explained. “There is a huge economic interest for family planning officials to carry this out.”
He noted that at a UN summit, Chinese officials boasted about their population control policies, claiming that they have “made a great contribution to the world [and] to the environment.”
In China, when a woman marries, she is subjected to regular physical checkups, and the government keeps a very detailed record of her status. She must also obtain a permission card before she gets pregnant, or she still may be forced to abort her first child.
Fu explained that if a woman does not obtain permission, or if she becomes pregnant a second time and does not schedule an abortion, she is required to pay a “Social Burden Compensation Fee,” which is customarily priced four to six times higher than the income of the family, making it impossible to be paid.
“It’s a very cruelly implemented situation,” he said. “It’s the greatest atrocity against women and children in this century.”
However, not only does the Chinese government punish the woman for failing to obtain an abortion, but her family and neighbors are held liable as well. Fu explained that many Chinese communities enact a neighborhood watch system, and that residents must sign a covenant outlining their understanding of the punishment that will follow if they allow a pregnant woman to evade the one child per household policy.
According to Fu, one county even enforced a “100 Days No Child” campaign, prohibiting any babies from being born within a 100-day period.
“Many tents were established on the street to hold these women,” he stated. “[The] women’s womb is owned by the state. It’s just a horrible, horrible practice.”
While Americans may find the policies of the Chinese government appalling, they may not realize that their own taxpayer funds are being used to assist these same population control programs in China — in the amount of $150 million a year.
“The first order from President Obama was to restore this money,” Fu lamented.
“I would really encourage our brothers and sisters in Christ to pray [and to] urge our government to stop … using taxpayer money to support this policy,” Fu said. “I think that we should tell our government leaders that they will be held accountable.”
ChinaAid has been working closely with Representative Chris Smith of New Jersey, an ardent pro-life congressman, to fight for the women and children in China. Recently, Smith joined with ChinaAid to help a woman named Cao Ruyi, who was also facing a forced abortion for refusing to terminate the life of her unborn child. The woman was detained in a Chinese hospital for three days, but because of international pressure placed upon the country, Ruyi was released. However, as she must pay nearly $25,000 to avoid being forced to ultimately undergo the procedure, many remain fearful of her plight.
“At least for now she’s safe,” Fu stated. “We will need to keep praying.”
Those desiring to express their concerns over China’s family planning regulations and its treatment of the Chinese people should contact Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton at 202-647-5291, American Ambassador Zhang Yesui at 202-495-2266 and/or Chinese Ambassador Gary Locke at amcitbeijing@state.gov
Sample comment: “I am deeply grieved by China’s forced abortion policy, and ask that you plead with Chinese officials to revoke their current regulations pertaining to one child per family restrictions. The reports of what happened to Feng Jianmei are extremely troubling, but she is just one of thousands of women who are being subjected to the tyrannical actions of the Chinese government. Please help protect the rights of these mothers by taking a stand against forced abortions in China.”
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