Friday, September 25 is the 40th anniversary of China’s One Child (now Two Child) Policy. Please join me, and Dr. Adrian Zenz, Senior Research Fellow in China Studies at the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, for an online, virtual conversation commemorating this somber anniversary. We will discuss the atrocities of the Chinese Communist Party, especially in light of continuing forced abortion, involuntary sterilization and infanticide against the Uyghurs. This event is co-sponsored by Women’s Rights Without Frontiers and the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation. Please register to attend virtually HERE.
“Jiao” saved from sex-selective abortion at six months
This adorable three-week-old baby girl is “Jiao” (her name has been changed to protect her identity) – and she will never know how hard her brave mother fought to keep her alive. Jiao’s mother wept as she told our undercover fieldworker her story.
When Jiao’s mother was six months pregnant, she and Jiao’s paternal grandmother went to the hospital together for an ultrasound to determine the baby’s gender. Jiao’s mother told us that as soon as the doctor announced the baby was a girl, her mother-in-law’s expression changed from expectation to disappointment. Her paternal grandparents wanted a grandson intensely. They felt they had lost this grandson when they received the news that Jiao is a girl. Jiao’s paternal grandmother began pressuring Jiao’s mother to abort Jiao, just because she is a girl. Jiao’s mother courageously refused to abort her daughter.
After Jiao’s birth, without her mother’s consent, the grandmother even found a childless couple who wanted to adopt Jiao. Jiao’s mother refused to give her daughter up for adoption. She loves Jiao and is determined to raise her.
Our fieldworker stepped into this heartbreaking situation with a message of hope and support. We told Jiao’s mother that of course, girls are as valuable as boys – something women rarely or never hear in rural China. We also offered her a monthly stipend for a year, to empower her to keep her daughter. Our encouragement and support are a light in the darkness for Jiao’s mother. It is our joy and privilege to extend hope and a helping hand to brave women like Jiao’s mother, who are fighting for the lives of their daughters in situations that seem hopeless.
“Socialists promise heaven on earth, but always end up giving you a one-way ticket to hell.” — Jennifer Zeng
“The goal of socialism is communism.” — Vladimir Lenin
September 15 is the International Day of Democracy – a day when those of us fortunate enough to live in a democratic society celebrate breathing the air of free speech, freedom of religion, self government and the rule of law.
Too often, socialism is held up as an ideal, even in the United States. My colleague, Jennifer Zeng, is a courageous survivor of a Chinese labor camp. She describes the truth about socialism. The Chinese Communist Party forcibly aborted Jennifer’s second child under the One Child Policy. Then, they burst into her home in the middle of the night and detained her. When she asked why, the police officer answered, “Because of your thought.”
Jennifer, a survivor of “socialism with Chinese characteristics” – communism – tells the story of being detained and tortured brutally in a labor camp because of her religious beliefs. On her first day, she and others were forced to squat with their hands behind their heads, looking at their feet, for 15 hours, in the baking sun. Anyone who fainted was shocked awake with electric batons.
Jennifer says that “Every day was a struggle between life and death.” She says that the slave labor in the camp was used to make products sold all over the world, including in the United States. She says that she and others were forced to submit to blood tests, the results of which would go into a database for forced organ donation, in which innocent people were killed to harvest their organs for transplant.
Anyone who thinks socialism is a good idea shouldwatch this video. It is just four minutes long. Socialism makes promises that sound noble, but in reality, it delivers crushing pain. Man-made famines, thought police, inescapable surveillance, forced abortion and sterilization, forced organ harvesting and so many more crimes against humanity have brutalized the Chinese people for more than 70 years. Those of us who live in a democracy must commit ourselves to never let this evil form of government take hold of our land.
I am grateful to Ireland’s Pro-Life Campaign for interviewing me about our work in China, and especially about the human rights atrocities the Chinese Communist Party is committing against the Uyghur women in Xinjiang/East Turkistan. These include forced abortion, forced sterilization and infanticide. The world needs to know about this! We also discuss forced abortion in the United States as well. Click HEREto watch to this compelling interview!
“The CCP is an enemy of humanity. It is terrorizing its own people, and it is threatening the well-being of the world.” – Chen Guangcheng at the RNC
True to character, activist Chen Guangcheng did not pull any punches in his speech at the Republican National Convention. Read the full transcript HERE. When he exposed the widespread use of forced abortion and sterilization in Linyi, China, he was jailed and tortured for years. The CCP failed to break his spirit, and he continues his valiant activism from, in his words, “the United States, where we are now free.”
Having Chen speak at the Convention was a bold move. It sends a clear message that the United States will no longer kowtow to Beijing and practice appeasement diplomacy. The current administration has taken strong action for human rights in China, including standing with the people of Hong Kong and the Uyghur Muslims, who are current victims of the CCP’s forced abortion and sterilization policy. The Convention has given an important national platform to Chen – the world’s most heroic opponent of forced abortion under the One Child Policy in China.
Congressman Chris Smith and Reggie wear sunglasses to free Chen Guangcheng on Capitol Hill in December, 2011
Seeing Chen speak at the Convention was a profound experience for me personally, since I spent years traveling the world to raise the visibility of his case while he was in prison. You can watch our “Free Chen Guangcheng” video HERE.We translated and released his searing report of forced abortions and presented it at a Congressional hearing HERE. We worked with Chinese activists to create an international Sunglasses Campaign to press for his release. The day before it became public that he had escaped house arrest, I was advocating on his behalf at the Dail (Irish Legislature). A group of activists protested on his behalf in front of the Chinese Embassy in Dublin.
Reggie and others protest for the release of Chen Guangcheng at the Chinese Embassy in Dublin, April 2012
The day Chen arrived safely in the United States was one of the most thrilling days of my life. Meeting him and his wife for the first time was unforgettable. To see him now, addressing the nation and indeed the world in such a powerful way is almost surreal. Congratulating him warmly over the phone last night, I reflected how I had once said, “I would have crawled halfway around the world to see him while he was under house arrest.”
Reggie and Chen Guangcheng shortly after his arrival in the United States in May of 2012Chen joins Congressman Chris Smith and Reggie to speak at The Heritage Foundation, October 9, 2014
May Chen’s message ring loud and clear. The United States must continue to challenge – not appease — China on its human rights record. Freedom in China, and indeed in the world, depend on it.
Standing up to tyranny is not easy. I know. When I spoke out against China’s One Child Policy and other injustices, I was persecuted, beaten, sent to prison, and put under house arrest by the Chinese Communist Party – the CCP. In April 2012, I escaped and was given shelter in the American Embassy in Beijing. I am forever grateful to the American people for welcoming me and my family to the United States where we are now free.
The CCP is an enemy of humanity. It is terrorizing its own people, and it is threatening the well-being of the world. In China expressing beliefs or ideas not approved by the CCP – religion, democracy, human rights – can lead to prison. The nation lives under mass surveillance and censorship. The United States must use its values of freedom, democracy, and the rule of law to gather a coalition of other democracies to stop CCP’s aggression. President Trump has led on this, and we need the other countries to join him in this fight – a fight for our future.
Standing up to fight unfairness isn’t easy. I know. So does President Trump. But he has shown the courage to lead that fight. We need to support, vote, and fight for President Trump for the sake of the world.
Reggie advocates for Chen Guangcheng at a Congressional Hearing in 2012
Dear Friends,
I just heard that my dear friend, blind activist Chen Guangcheng, will address the nation at the Republican National Convention tonight!! Chen Guangcheng, and his wife, Yuan Weijing, are people of towering heroism. They risked everything to expose the horrific brutality of forced abortion and sterilization in China in 2005. For this, Guangcheng was jailed for years, then confined under house arrest, where he and his wife were tortured. He dramatically escaped house arrest and, after a standoff between the Chinese Communist Party and the U.S. government, was finally allowed to come to the United States with his family.
Reggie and Guangcheng together after his arrival in the United States
Those of you who have followed my work from the beginning know that I worked tirelessly for years, building an international movement and advocating at the U.S. Congress, the European Parliament, the British Parliament and the Irish Parliament, and many times on Voice of America, for China to release Chen Guangcheng. When I first met Guangcheng in the U.S., he gave me a hug that lifted me off the floor – despite the fact that his foot was broken! It was the most emotional meeting of my life.
Guangcheng and Reggie interviewed together by Huchen Zhang of Voice of America
When Guangcheng was languishing under house arrest, the rumor had gone out that he had died of malnutrition. I went onto Voice of America to ask the Chinese people to pray for Guangcheng. Never did I imagine that he and I would one day be interviewed together on Voice of America in D.C. And never in my wildest dreams did I think that he would be addressing the nation at the RNC.
Guangcheng is thoroughly despised by the Chinese Communist Party, because he shamed them before the world by exposing their late-term forced abortion practices. Having Guangcheng speak at the RNC sends a bold message to China: The U.S. will no longer put up with China’s egregious human rights atrocities, but will hold accountable those responsible.
Please join me in watching my dear friend Chen Guangcheng’s speech HERE.
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“Ming Mei” (Her name has been changed to protect her identity)
August 25th is the Qixi Festival — China’s Valentine’s Day — an important day for young Chinese girls. Will you “Save a Girl” – a girl like Ming Mei — for China’s Valentine’s Day?
Look at beautiful baby Ming Mei! She may never know that because she is an illegal third child of a very poor family, her mother was planning to “give her away.”
Ming Mei’s parents already had two children – the limit under the Two-Child Policy – when Ming Mei was born. They did not intend to have a third, but her mother got pregnant by accident. If they wanted to, the Family Planning Officials could impose a large fine on the family.
Ming Mei’s mother is a Christian and believes that children are a gift from God.
Ming Mei’s father is the only healthy man in his family. He is a truck driver, transporting vegetables to market. The coronavirus shut down his business and he had not worked for five months when Ming Mei was born. His younger brother has epilepsy, and his father has been bedridden for two years. Ming Mei’s father was responsible to care for them by himself. In addition, he is supporting his wife and two children. Ming Mei, a third child, was more than her family could bear financially.
Ming Mei’s mother did not know what to do. She loved Ming Mei but could not afford a third child. With a heavy heart, she planned to give Ming Mei away, because of the severe poverty in her family.
Thankfully, our Fieldworker learned about Ming Mei’s family and went to see them. She congratulated Ming Mei’s mother on her beautiful, newborn daughter, saying “Girls are as good as boys.” She offered the family a monthly stipend of $25 for a year to help them keep Ming Mei.
When Ming Mei’s mother heard that with our help, she could keep Ming Mei, she began to cry, saying that our helping hand was building up her faith.
This Chinese Valentine’s Day, will you show love for a girl child and become a GirlSaver?
Any donation is welcome, including a one-time donation. But would you consider becoming a monthly donor, a “GirlSaver?” For only $25 per month or $300 per year, our GirlSavers have helped WRWF save at-risk babies in China, babies like Ming Mei, who might not be alive if one of our undercover fieldworkers had not met her mother and assured her that little girls are just as special as boys. Because of your generosity, we can continue to save girls in China.
YES, I WANT TO HELP END GENDERCIDE AND FORCED ABORTION IN CHINA!
Your donation enables WRWF to continue to be a voice for the voiceless women and children of China. This huge effort comes at a cost. We need your support. Please give as generously as you can. Every donation makes a difference! Thank you for your generosity!
Seng Moon, from Myanmar’s Kachin State, was lured by her sister-in-law to go to China for a well paying job as a cook. In the car, her sister-in-law gave her something she said was for motion sickness. When Seng Moon woke up in China, her hands were tied behind her back. After several months, she was moved to a Chinese family where she was tied up in a room for another one to two months. “Each time when the Chinese man brought me meals, he raped me,” she said. “After two months, they dragged me out of the room. The father of the Chinese man said, ‘Here is your husband. Now you are a married couple.’” Seng Moon soon gave birth to a son. When she asked to return home, the husband said, “No one plans to stop you. If you want to go back home, you can. But you can’t take my baby.”
Through determination and luck, she was able to escape her captors and return to Myanmar, with her son. They hide in a camp for Internally Displaced Persons. Her horrific experience of being a forced bride will never leave her. She says, “I’m afraid the Chinese family will try to find me.” All this, according to a detailed and devastating report by Human Rights Watch: “Give Us a Baby and We’ll Let You Go.”
July 30 marked World Day against Trafficking in Persons. The State Department’s 2020 Trafficking in Persons Report, lists China as one of the world’s worst offenders. China is a “Tier 3” Nation – a status it shares with North Korea and South Sudan.
According to the TIP report, China trafficks women and girls from within China, from the surrounding countries, and from as far away as Africa for “forced concubinism leading to forced childbearing and sex trafficking via forced and fraudulent marriage to Chinese men.” Not only is China an insatiable market for sexual slavery, but China also is a major purveyor of sexual slavery around the world: “Traffickers subject PRC national men, women and children to forced labor and sex trafficking in at least 60 other countries.”
All too often, these crimes are committed with the assistance of Chinese officials: “Despite continued reports of law enforcement officials benefiting from, permitting, or directly facilitating sex trafficking and forced labor, the government did not report any investigations, prosecutions or convictions of law enforcement officials allegedly involved in the crime.”
Reggie Littlejohn, Founder and President of Women’s Rights Without Frontiers, stated, “The reports of sexual slavery in China are heartbreaking. They are the inexorable legacy of the One Child Policy. Because of the fatal combination of son preference with a coercive low birth limit, baby girls have been selectively aborted, abandoned, and medically neglected to the extent that there are now 30 to 40 million more males living in China than females. The resulting collapse in the marriage market is perhaps the reason the Chinese government turns a blind eye to sex trafficking – and in some instances, even facilitates it.
Littlejohn continued: “We cannot forget the tremendous atrocities the CCP is committing against the Uyghurs and other ethnic minorites in Xinjiang, also known as East Turkistan, including forced labor, forced abortion and involuntary sterilization. We call upon the Chinese government immediately to prosecute officials who are colluding with sex traffickers, to stop prosecuting victims of sex trafficking as criminals, to end all coercive population control, and to take effective measures to protect the lives of baby girls. We also call upon them to end their heinous crimes against the Uyghurs.”
Dr. James Dobson interviews Reggie. Credit: Dr. James Dobson’s Family Talk Radio
Dear Friend,
I am grateful to Dr. James Dobson’s Family Talk for interviewing me about our work “Saving Women in China.” The conversation was so rich that one interview became two. In this second interview, we discuss in detail our “Save a Girl” campaign in which we are saving baby girls in China from sex-selective abortion, abandonment and grinding poverty. We talk about our “Save a Widow” campaign, in which we are reaching out to support destitute, abandoned widows in rural China. We speak about the two girls we rescued from China at ages 10 and 19, the daughters of a persecuted dissident. The younger one we are raising in our own home. And we speak about the faith that gives me, and our fieldworkers in China, the strength to carry out this work. Click HERE to listen to a powerful interview!
