China’s Two-Child Policy, New Number – Same Violence Against Women

Posted on December 1, 2015 by Reggie Littlejohn

Testimony of Reggie Littlejohn, President

Women’s Rights Without Frontiers

December 3, 2015

Congressional-Executive Commission on China

Honorable members of the Commission, Representative Chris Smith, Senator Marco Rubio, distinguished fellow panelists, ladies and gentlemen, I am grateful for this opportunity to testify here today, as we discuss the fact that China’s new Two-Child Policy continues the same massive crimes against women and children that were committed under the One Child Policy.

Xinhua News Agency reported on October 29, 2015 that China will move to a two-child policy for all couples, “abandoning its decades-long one-child policy.”

Characterizing this latest modification as “abandoning” the One-Child Policy is misleading. A two-child policy will not end any of the human rights abuses caused by the One Child Policy, including forced abortion, involuntary sterilization or the sex-selective abortion of baby girls.

Coercion is the core of the policy. Instituting a two-child policy will not end forced abortion or forced sterilization. As blind activist Chen Guangcheng succinctly tweeted:

This is nothing to be happy about. First the #CCP would kill any baby after one. Now they will kill any baby after two. #ChinaOneChildPolicy

The reason given for this adjustment is entirely demographic: “to balance population development and address the challenge of an ageing population.” The adjustment is a tacit admission that continuation of the one-child policy will lead to economic and demographic disaster. The policy was originally instituted for economic reasons. It is ironic that through this very policy, China has written its own economic death sentence.

Noticeably absent from the Chinese Communist party’s announcement is any mention of human rights. The Chinese Communist Party has not suddenly developed a conscience or grown a heart. Even though it will now allow all couples to have a second child, China has not promised to end forced abortion, forced sterilization, or forced contraception (1).

Indeed, the CCP has gone out of its way to emphasize that family planning restrictions will remain in force. Shortly after the announcement of the two-child policy, ViceMinister of the National Health and Family Planning Commission Wang Peian said that “China would not abandon its family planning restrictions.” He said, “A large population is China’s basic national condition so we must adhere to the basic state policy of family planning” (2). He also said that “China needs to . . . promote birth monitoring” before the two-child policy comes into effect (3).

It appears, therefore, that China plans to maintain its iron grip over the wombs of women. The Chinese Communist Party will continue to intrude into the bedrooms and between the sheets of the families in China, requiring an arduous process to obtain a “birth permit,” a system of paid informants, and ultrasound checks to make sure that a woman’s IUD is still in place (4).

Coercion is the core of the policy. Instituting a two-child policy will not end forced abortion or forced sterilization.

The problem with the one-child policy is not the number of children “allowed.” Rather, it is the fact that the CCP is telling women how many children they can have and then enforcing that limit through forced abortion and forced sterilization. There is no guarantee that the CCP will cease their appalling methods of enforcement. Women will still have to obtain a government-issued birth permit, for the first and second child, or they may be subject to forced abortion. It will still be illegal for an unmarried woman to have a child. Regardless of the number of children allowed, women who get pregnant without permission will still be dragged out of their homes, strapped down to tables, and forced to abort babies that they want.

The impact of China’s Two-Child Policy on Women in One Area of Rural China (5)

Women’s Rights Without Frontiers runs a campaign to end the sex-selective abortion of baby girls in China. Our network of fieldworkers on the ground have saved almost 200 baby girls in one area of rural China.

Through this network, WRWF gets direct, up to the minute information about coercive population control in our area of China. I communicated with the head of our network over the weekend. Here is what she said about the current condition in our villages after the announcement of the Two-Child Policy:

Forced Sterilization continues.

The women in our villages do not see the new Two-Child Policy as a big improvement, because of the threat of sterilization. It is a policy that women must be sterilized after the second child – especially if both children are girls. Women who have a boy as their first child are not likely to have a second child, because after the second child, they would be forcibly sterilized. These sterilizations ruin not only a woman’s reproductive health, but her general health as well. After these sterilizations, the vast majority of women are “never the same again.” They will never recover their strength. For example, in our villages there is no running water. Women need to pump water out of a deep well. Before they are sterilized, women are strong enough to pump water. After they are sterilized, they are no longer strong enough to pump water. This weakness lasts forever and is devastating, because the family depends on the strength of the mother to do farm work.

Especially women whose first child is a girl feel they have to hide their second pregnancy, because they will be automatically sterilized after the second child. If their second child is also a girl, they do not want to be sterilized, because the procedure may break their health and because they want to try again for a boy. Many women will abort or abandon their second daughter under the Two-Child Policy, just as they did under the One Child Policy. The second daughters who are allowed to be born will be hidden, and thus denied hukou, as in our villages, hukou is given to second children only after the mother has been sterilized. Requiring sterilization in order for your child to register and obtain a birth certificate is an atrocity against both women and children.

Forced abortion continues.

If a woman is illegally pregnant now with her second child, Family Planning Officials will come to her home to demand an abortion. The Two-Child Policy has yet to be fully implemented. Women whose child was conceived before the implementation of the Two Child Policy are still subject to forced abortion or astronomical “terror fines” (6). If a  woman wants a second child, she must first obtain a “birth permit.” These permits are not likely to become available until well into next year.

According to our network, if a woman is caught illegally pregnant and cannot pay the fine, she will still be forcibly aborted, as was the case under the One Child Policy. According to the president of a local hospital and a family planning official contacted by our network, if a woman runs away in an attempt to escape the fine, and is caught, she will be forcibly aborted. The woman will have no recourse to a court of law, as courts will not accept such cases.

In our villages, whether or not a woman is actually forced to have an abortion depends on the circumstances. Women who are poor, whose relatives do not work for the government, and who do not have any power to defend themselves are more likely to be forcibly aborted than women who have money or whose relatives work for the government. Another factor is whether the Family Planning Official handling that particular case is merciful or merciless. A pitiless Family Planning Official confronting a poor and powerless woman will often lead to a forced abortion.

Women in our villages have resorted to desperate measures to avoid forced abortion when faced with an illegal pregnancy. The following situation is common in our area:

“Ai Bao” (not her real name) is a two-month old second daughter, with a threeyear-old sister. Since this was an illegal second pregnancy, Ai Bao’s mother tried to hide her pregnancy. Still, a Family Planning Officer found her and pressed her to get abortion. Ai Bao’s mother found an un-married pregnant woman, paid that woman ¥ 2000, and arranged for this woman to use the name of Ai Bao’s mother to get an abortion. In this way, Ai Bao’s mother obtained an abortion certification from the hospital in her own name and turned it in to local Family Planning Office – to escape the forced abortion of her own daughter, Ai Bao.

Gendercide will continue.

Instituting a two-child policy will not end gendercide, the sex-selective abortion of baby girls. Indeed, areas in which two children currently are allowed are especially vulnerable to gendercide. According to the 2009 British Medical Journal study of data from the 2005 national census, in nine provinces, for “second order births” where the first child is a girl, 160 boys were born for every 100 girls. In two provinces, Jiangsu and Anhui, for the second child, there were 190 boys for every hundred girls born. This study stated, “sex selective abortion accounts for almost all the excess males.” Because of this gendercide, there are an estimated 37 million Chinese men who will never marry because their future wives were terminated before they were born. This gender imbalance is a powerful, driving force behind trafficking in women and sexual slavery, not only in China, but in neighboring nations as well.

There is little reason to hope that the two-child policy will result in a significant improvement of the sex ratios at birth. Many women whose first child is a boy may choose not to bear a second child because of the great expense of raising a child in China. In the alternative, they may choose not to have a second child to avoid the forced sterilization required after two children. Women whose first child is a girl will still abort second daughters in order to have a son.

In addition, a technology that is potentially dangerous to girls has found its way to China. It has recently been discovered that “cell free” fetal DNA can be found in the blood of the pregnant mother. Noninvasive prenatal testing, whose ominous acronym is “NIPT,” is a new way to detect chromosomal abnormalities of a fetus through analyzing the blood of the mother. This simple blood test given to the mother, however, can be used to determine the gender of a fetus as early as seven weeks into the pregnancy. Results are available within 48 hours. Where brutal son preference meets non-invasive, early sex determination of a fetus, inevitably baby girls will be selectively aborted (7).

Hukou Abuses Continue.

WRWF’s network reports that in our area, unless a woman is sterilized, her second child will be denied household registration or hukou. Without hukou, children are denied access to healthcare, education and other public benefits.

For illegal extra births, Chinese Family Planning Officials may exact enormous sums for a family to obtain hukou. Frustrated fathers have lost control and murdered family planning officials (8). Some men have resorted to suicide in protest over the excessive fines imposed by the government (9). The spirit of the Cultural Revolution lives on in the family planning police, who have been able to steal, intimidate, torture and kill with relative impunity.

There has been recent talk of registering 13 million people who do not have hukou. The motive appears to be an attempt to “make the population look less unbalanced” (10).

WRWF demands the unconditional end of the hukou system as being inhumane. Eliminating hukou by itself, however, will not end gendercide unless it is accompanied by the elimination of forced sterilization and all coercive birth limits. Women will not register a second child for hukou if they will be sterilized for doing so. Women will not register second daughters for hukou if by doing so they are giving up the chance to have a son.

China’s Massive Population Control Apparatus Will Remain Intact.

Some have publicly wondered: What will happen to the army of Family Planning Officials, now that China has “abolished” the One Child Policy (11)? This question is overly optimistic. The Two-Child Policy remains just as coercive as the former One-Child Policy. This infrastructure of coercion can be turned to crush dissent of any kind. It will therefore be maintained under the Two-Child Policy.

There is growing unrest inside China. “[I]nternal Chinese law enforcement data on socalled “mass incidents” – a wide variety of protests ranging from sit-ins to strikes, marches and rallies, and even genuine riots – indicated that China has seen a sustained, rapid increase in those incidents from 8,700 in 1993 to nearly 60,000 in 2003, to more than 120,000 in 2008 (12). Meanwhile, there are as many as 1 million Family Planning Officials (13). This army of Family Planning Officials can be turned in any direction to crush dissent of any sort. Does the Chinese Communist Party regard this army as necessary to maintain control in a tinder-box situation?

The Chinese Communist Party Will Never Relinquish Coercive Population Control

As fully explained in my Congressional testimony of April 30, 2015, the Chinese Communist Party will never relinquish coercive population control because 1) it enables them to maintain its grip on power through terror – it is social control, masquerading as population control; 2) it is a lucrative profit center, bringing in as much as $314 billion in fines since its inception; 3) it provides and infrastructure of coercion that can be used to crush dissent of any sort; and 4) it ruptures relationships of trust, so that people cannot organize for change. I believe that the Chinese Communist Party is maintaining its grip on power by shedding the blood of the innocent women and babies of China.

Conclusion

Sending out the message that China has “abandoned” its one-child policy is detrimental to sincere efforts to stop forced abortion and gendercide in China, because this message implies that the one-child policy is no longer a problem. In a world laden with compassion fatigue, people are relieved to cross China’s one-child policy off of their list of things to worry about. But we must not do that. Let us not abandon the women of China, who continue to face forced abortion, and the baby girls of China, who continue to face sex-selective abortion and abandonment under the new Two-Child Policy.

The one-child policy does not need to be modified. It needs to be abolished.

Policy Recommendations:

We respectfully request that the U.S. government urge the Chinese government to:

*Abolish the Two-Child Policy and all forms of coercive population control;

*Offer incentives for couples to have girls (14);

*Offer pensions to couples who do not have a son, ensuring that parents of girls will not become impoverished in their old age; and

*Abolish the hukou system, so that all children will have access to healthcare and education.

In addition, we respectfully request that the U.S. government:

*Establish principles of Corporate Social Responsibility, to ensure that U.S. corporations do not allow coercive population control measures to be taken against their employees; and

*Defund UNFPA, unless and until UNFPA stops supporting or participating in the management of a program of coercive abortion or involuntary sterilization in China, in violation of the 1985 Kemp-Kasten Amendment.

1 “Why Critics Are Not Satisfied with the End of China’s One-Child Policy.” https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2015/10/29/why-critics-are-not-satisfied-with-the-end-of-chinas-one-childpolicy/ 10/29/15; “Still No Dignity for Chinese Women.” http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/11/opinion/china-one-child-policy-stillno-dignity-for-chinese-women.html 11/11/15; “Change from One- to Two-Child Policy Won’t End Forced Abortions in China.” http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/penny-starr/human-rights-advocate-change-one-two-child-policy-wont-end-forced-abortions 10/29/15; “Horrors of One-Child Policy Leave Deep Scars in Chinese Society.” https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/horrors-of-one-child-policy-leave-deep-scars-in-chinesesociety/2015/10/30/6bd28e0c-7e7b-11e5-bfb6-65300a5ff562_story.html 10/30/15

2 “2-Child Policy ‘to fuel growth by 0.5%.’” http://www.chinadailyasia.com/nation/2015-11/10/content_15342620.html 11/1/15; “China Amps Up PR Campaign Extolling ‘Two-Child Policy.’” http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/11/10/china-amps-prcampaign-extolling-two-child-policy/ 11/10/15

3 “China Stresses Two-Child Policy Not Yet Valid.” http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2015-11/10/c_134802823.htm 11/10/15; No Help for Chinese Mom Expecting Second Child: New Two-Child Policy Won’t Be Enacted in Time to Save Pro-Life Leader Facing Pressure to Abort.” http://www.worldmag.com/2015/10/no_relief_for_chinese_mom_expecting_second_child 10/30/15

4 “China’s Population-Control Machine Churns On.” https://www.freedomhouse.org/blog/china-population-control-machine-churns 1/13/14

5 While shrinking, nearly half of China’s population remains rural, accounting for some 600 million people. World Bank: “Urban Population (% of total).” http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.URB.TOTL.IN.ZS

6 “No Help for Chinese Mom Expecting Second Child: New Two-Child Policy Won’t Be Enacted in Time to Save Pro-Life Leader Facing Pressure to Abort.” http://www.worldmag.com/2015/10/no_relief_for_chinese_mom_expecting_second_child 10/30/15

7 “Experts Worried Pre-Natal Blood Test Might Lead to Sex-Selective Abortions.” http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/health/11980660/Experts-worried-pre-natal-blood-test-might-lead-to-sex-selective-abortions.html. 11/6/15; “New Method Allows Noninvasive prenatal testing to detect more diseases: Study.” http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2015-11/10/c_134799694.htm, 11/10/15

8 “Crazed Chinese father-of-four stabs two government officials to death over one child policy.” http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2376771/Chinese-father-kills-1-child-policy-officials-registering-4th-child.html 7/24/13.

9 “Chinese father of four commits suicide over one-child policy fines so his children can go to school.” http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/chinese-father-of-four-commits-suicide-over-one-child-policy-fines-so-his-c. 5/26/14; “Farmer drinks poison after being fined for violations of family planning policy.” http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/830847.shtml 12/8/13

10 “Plan to Register 13 Million ‘Unofficial’ Chinese Sparks Doubts.” http://www.rfa.org/english/news/china/plan-to-register-13- million-unofficial-chinese-sparks-doubts-11252015100418.html 11/25/15

11 “After the One-Child Policy: What Happens to China’s Family-Planning Bureaucracy?” http://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2015/11/12/after-the-one-child-policy-what-happens-to-chinas-family-planning-bureaucracy/ 11/12/15

12 “China’s Social Unrest Problem – Testimony before the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission.” Murray Scott Tanner, Ph.D. http://www.uscc.gov/sites/default/files/Tanner_Written%20Testimony.pdf. 5/15/14; see also, “Rising Protests in China.” http://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2012/02/rising-protests-in-china/100247/. 2/17/12.

13 “Family Planning: Enforcing with a smile.” http://www.economist.com/news/china/21638131-enforcers-chinas-one-child-policyare-trying-new-gentler-approach-enforcing-smile. 1/10/15; “The bureaucracy that oversees family planning in China is enormous. According to official statistics of the National Health and Family Planning Commission (NHFPC), there are over 500,000 administrative staff and technical service providers from the central government down to the township level devoted to both policy enforcement and family planning generally. In addition, more than 1.2 million cadres assist in birth planning at the village level.” “After the One-Child Policy: What Happens to China’s Family-Planning Bureaucracy?” http://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2015/11/12/after-the-one-child-policy-what-happens-to-chinas-family-planning-bureaucracy/ 11/12/15 If China’s Family Planning Officials were an army, they would tie with North Korea as the sixth largest army in the world. “World’s Largest Armies.” http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/armies.htm.

 

14 We have found in our “Save a Girl” campaign that the encouragement of modest monetary support is enough to make the difference between life and death to a baby girl. “Twin Girls Saved from Abortion in China, Husband’s Family Only Wanted Boys.” http://www.lifenews.com/2014/05/30/twin-girls-saved-from-abortion-in-china-husband-family-told-wife-they-only-wanted-boys/ 5/30/14

Posted in abortion, Chen Guangcheng, China's One Child Policy, coerced abortion, Forced Abortion, forced sterilization, gendercide, hukou, Marco Rubio, One Child Policy, pro-choice, pro-life, Reggie Littlejohn, reproductive health, reproductive rights, right to choose, Save a Girl, sex selective abortion, two child policy, Uncategorized, Women's Rights Without Frontiers | Comments Off on China’s Two-Child Policy, New Number – Same Violence Against Women

Giving Tuesday – Please help us save women and babies in China!

Posted on December 1, 2015 by Reggie Littlejohn

We’ve Received $5000 in Matching Funds!

We need $50,000 to continue our work!

Dear Friends:

In this season of giving, please remember the women and babies of China, who are still enduring conditions that are beyond imagination.  At this moment, there are women in China who have gotten pregnant without a “birth permit” and are in danger of being dragged away for a forced abortion, up to the ninth month of pregnancy.  Baby girls in China are in danger of selective abortion and abandonment.

You may have heard that China has “abandoned” its One Child Policy.  This is not true.

Regarding the new Two-Child Policy, blind activist Chen Guangcheng tweeted,  “This is nothing to be happy about. First the (Chinese government) would kill any baby after one. Now they will kill any baby after two.”

The brutality continues.  This October Women’s Rights Without Frontiers was featured at a powerful event in the United States Library of Congress to expose the truth of China’s One Child Policy.  The Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation invited Representative Chris Smith, blind activist Chen Guangcheng, and Women’s Rights Without Frontiers President Reggie Littlejohn to join forces to expose the atrocities of forced abortion and gendercide in China.   We talked about women like Feng Jianmei, who was forcibly aborted at 7 months.  China reports that it has 13 million abortions a year.  That’s 35,000 a day, or almost 1500 an hour.  The brutality of China’s forced abortion policy is repeated thousands of times every day.

Meanwhile, China leads the world in the sex-selective abortion of baby girls.  Our Save a Girl campaign is saving the lives of baby girls at risk of being aborted or abandoned because of son preference in China!  Through our network of on-the-ground fieldworkers, we are able to reach women who are pregnant with or who have just given birth to a girl, and are being pressured to abort or abandon her.  We offer these mothers encouragement and a monthly stipend for a year, empowering them to keep their daughters.

This girl is one of 200 babies saved by our “Save a Girl” Campaign.

This girl is one of 200 babies saved by our “Save a Girl” Campaign.

We have an overwhelming success rate and have saved 200 precious babies through this campaign.

Reggie Littlejohn and Anni Zhang in Yosemite, August 2015

Reggie Littlejohn and Anni Zhang in Yosemite, August 2015

We also rescued Zhang Anni, the persecuted daughter of dissident Zhang Lin.  She was called “the youngest prisoner of conscience in China,” as she was kidnapped out of her elementary school at age 10 and detained overnight.  The Chinese government persecuted Anni in an attempt to silence her heroic father.  We raised the visibility of Anni’s case internationally and then conducted quiet diplomacy to get her out of China.  She is now living with my husband and me and we are raising her as our own daughter. 

At the U.S. Library of Congress on Capitol Hill in D.C., Reggie addresses attendees of the November 2015 China Forum, sponsored by the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation.

At the U.S. Library of Congress on Capitol Hill in D.C., Reggie addresses attendees of the November 2015 China Forum, sponsored by the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation.

Women’s Rights Without Frontiers has been called the “leading voice” in the battle against forced abortion and gendercide in China.  Indeed, I was astonished and humbled to be named one of the “Top Ten People” of 2013 by Inside the Vatican magazine. We have testified seven times at the U.S. Congress, three times at the European Parliament, twice at the British Parliament, and have briefed the Canadian Parliament, the State Department, the White House, the United Nations and the Vatican.  Our efforts have born fruit.  Both the European Parliament and the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women have issued statements condemning forced abortion.  We are unique in having the attention of both the left and the right.

Women’s Rights Without Frontiers needs your support to continue.  We need to raise $50,000.00 to continue our work.  Please prayerfully consider partnering with us in fighting perhaps the greatest injustice of our age.

The women and babies of China urgently need your help!  If you would like to partner with us, please send a check made out to Women’s Rights Without Frontiers to:

Reggie Littlejohn met Pope Francis in October 2013. She was named one of the “Top 10” People of 2013 by Inside the Vatican magazine.

Reggie Littlejohn met Pope Francis in October 2013. She was named one of the “Top 10” People of 2013 by Inside the Vatican magazine.

Women’s Rights Without Frontiers

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San Jose, CA 95124

WRWF is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, California Non-Profit Corporation # 3296236; EIN # 90-0591575EIN.  Donations are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by U.S. law.

With gratitude,

Reggie Littlejohn, President

Women’s Rights Without Frontiers

Posted in Chen Guangcheng, China, China's One Child Policy, Chinese Communist Party, coerced abortion, communism, Forced Abortion, forced sterilization, One Child Policy, pro-choice, pro-life, Reggie Littlejohn, reproductive health, reproductive rights, Save a Girl, sex selective abortion, two child policy, Uncategorized, Women's Rights Without Frontiers | Comments Off on Giving Tuesday – Please help us save women and babies in China!

Give Thanks by Saving a Girl in China

Posted on November 20, 2015 by Reggie Littlejohn

Picture1Women’s Rights Without Frontiers wishes your family a very Happy Thanksgiving!  As you gather with your family to give thanks, is there a woman or girl in your life you’d like to thank – for just being her? If so, here is a creative way to let her know you care!

For the month of November, you can help “Save a Girl” by “thanking a girl” – more info below!

Isn’t this baby girl just precious?

She has the face of a sleeping angel.  A mother couldn’t help but want to show off a beautiful daughter like this to her neighborhood, let alone the whole world.

Unless the mother had to hide her, because her baby girl was “illegal.”

Meet Ai Mei. Loved as she is by her parents, she is despised by her government.

Why? Because her parents lacked the birth permit required by Chinese law in order to conceive and give birth to a child. As a result, Ai Mei is considered an “illegal baby” – her very existence breaks the law! — though born in China to Chinese parents. Had her mother’s pregnancy been discovered prior to delivery, she would have been subjected to a forced abortion unless she could pay the fine. Hardly a “fine” by the American standards of a parking ticket, this crushing bill can total up to ten times a person’s annual salary. Since many families like Ai Mei’s are already poor, they cannot afford to pay the hefty toll, so they pay a different one – a life of hiding in fear of the Family Planning Police. Already, Ai Mei’s parents live in a house that had been abandoned for more than eight years.  It has no electricity or gas.  They keep the gate closed, so one knows that anyone lives there. Often, this constant stress and financial strain can lead a family to do the unthinkable – to give away or to abandon their baby girl.

Thankfully, a trusted Women’s Rights Without Frontiers fieldworker learned about the family’s plight and told them about our “Save a Girl” program.  She told them we provide a monthly stipend to families to empower them to keep their girl. In the midst of their woe, the parents were grateful to know that someone else valued their daughter and the risks they were taking to raise her.

Don’t believe China’s lies; the new two-child policy is still coercive population control

Don’t think for a moment that China’s two-child policy will change anything. If China was truly concerned about its demographic situation, why have any birth limit? Coercive population control is alive and strong as ever and birth permits are required just as they were before. Sadly, there will be countless more families like Ai Mei’s facing pressures to abort or to abandon – but there could be fewer if we had your help.

This Thanksgiving, will you help “Save a Girl” by giving thanks for yours?

Maybe you can’t wrap your girl in a pink blanket anymore, but you can wrap her in words of gratitude!

Step 1: Donate $25 or more – the amount of money it takes to help support a girl saved in China for one month

Step 2: Indicate in the notes section of your donation the woman or girl you wish to honor, and her email address. We will send her a message to let her know you have given her a donation in her honor to our “Save a Girl” Campaign.

Will you help us save women and girls in China? Become a “GirlSaver!”

Won’t you help us save more girls like Ai Mei? So far, we have saved 200 girls, and yet there are millions more who are being aborted or abandoned just because they are girls. Each one of these girls is infinitely precious. Please help us save them by donating to our “Save a Girl” Campaign.

Learn more about how you can help to save girls here:
http://womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org/index.php?nav=give

For $25 per month, or $300 per year, our GirlSavers have helped WRWF save at-risk babies in China, babies like Ai Mei, who may not be alive if one of our undercover fieldworkers had not met her mother and assured her that little girls are as special as boys. We put our money where our mouth is, offering practical assistance to empower these mothers to keep their daughters.

YES, I WANT TO HELP END GENDERCIDE AND FORCED ABORTION IN CHINA!

Your donation enables Women’s Rights Without Frontiers 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!

 

Posted in Forced Abortion, gendercide, One Child Policy, Save a Girl | Comments Off on Give Thanks by Saving a Girl in China

China: Man executed for killing two family planning officials

Posted on November 20, 2015 by Reggie Littlejohn

A man who stabbed two Family Planning Officials to death and wounded four others in 2013 has been executed, according to a report appearing in the South China Morning Post.  The man, He Shenguo of Guangxi Province, was unable to pay the fine for his “illegal” fourth child, so Family Planning Officials denied registration to the child. These fines can be up to ten times a person’s annual salary and out of reach for many in China.

Reggie Littlejohn, President of Women’s Rights Without Frontiers, stated:  “This tragic situation shows that China’s One (now Two) – Child Policy devastates not only women, but also men and children.  Under this policy, if a child is “illegal” — born without a birth permit — that child will be denied hukou, or household registration.  Children without hukou will have no birth certificate, no official existence.  They will not be eligible for health care or education.  They cannot get a passport or driver’s license.  They will not be able officially to marry or work. As far as the Chinese government is concerned, these children do not exist.

“Unfortunately, the Chinese Government will continue the hukou system under the new Two-Child Policy.  This denial of hukou is extremely distressing to parents, who may feel that their beloved children have no future.  In another tragic incident last year, a Chinese father of four committed suicide because his children were denied hukou.

“Denial of hukou is a form of official child abuse.  It must end.”

Related Links:

South China Morning Post: China man executed for killing two family planning officials who refused to register birth of fourth childhttp://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/1878448/china-man-executed-killing-two-family-planners-who-refused11/13/15

Crazed Chinese father-of-four stabs two government officials to death over one child policy.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2376771/Chinese-father-kills-1-child-policy-officials-registering-4th-child.html 7/24/13.

Chinese father of four commits suicide over one-child policy fines so his children can go to school. http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/chinese-father-of-four-commits-suicide-over-one-child-policy-fines-so-his-c. 5/26/14; “Farmer drinks poison after being fined for violations of family planning policy.” http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/830847.shtml 12/8/13

Posted in hukou, One Child Policy, two child policy | Comments Off on China: Man executed for killing two family planning officials

EWTN’s Raymond Arroyo Interviews Reggie re: China’s Two-Child Policy

Posted on November 20, 2015 by Reggie Littlejohn

Dear Friend,

We are grateful to Raymond Arroyo for interviewing WRWF’s Reggie Littlejohn on why forced abortion and gendercide will continue under China’s new Two-Child Policy.  Please help us get the truth out — watch and share!

Raymond Arroyo and Reggie Littlejohn on the set for EWTN's The World Over.

Raymond Arroyo and Reggie Littlejohn on the set for EWTN’s The World Over.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Watch the video here.

Posted in EWTN, Raymond Arroyo, Reggie Littlejohn, two child policy, Uncategorized | Comments Off on EWTN’s Raymond Arroyo Interviews Reggie re: China’s Two-Child Policy

Chinese: 40 Million Bachelors Can Just Share Wives

Posted on November 17, 2015 by Reggie Littlejohn

China Daily has cheerfully announced the economic gains expected through the implementation of its new two-child policy:  an increased labor force and GDP, as well as a reduction in the percentage share of elderly people.  Official publications, however, have not asserted that the new two-child policy will balance the other great demographic disaster caused by the former one-child policy:  the gender disparity between male and female.

The new two-child policy will do little or nothing to improve the intractable gender imbalance caused by the one child policy.  First, what about the tens of millions of men who currently cannot find wives?   Girls born now will not be marriage age for decades.  Second, raising children in China is expensive, and many couples are caring for both sets of elderly parents as well.  Those whose first child is a son may choose not to have a second child.  Those whose first child is a daughter may choose to have a second child, but many will abort if that second child is also a daughter.  Second daughters are extremely vulnerable to gendercide in China.  This will not change under the two-child policy.

Shortly before China announced its move to a two-child policy, Chinese economist Professor Xie Zuoshi of Shejiang University, offered a controversial solution to China’s gender imbalance.  Xie estimated that by the year 2020, there will be 40 million more males than females.  These males, whom he terms “guanggun” or “bare branches,” will never be able to find wives or have children.  Xie sees this as an economic problem with an economic solution:  Allow men to share wives.

Professor Xie’s proposal ignited such a firestorm of criticism on the Chinese Internet that he has removed his original blog post, complaining that he has been “endlessly abused” for what he sees as an obvious solution to an intractable problem.  His original post has nevertheless been widely quoted in the media.

Xie wrote:

With so many guanggun, women are in short supply and their value increases.  But that doesn’t mean the market can’t be adjusted.  The guanggun problem is actually a problem of income.  High-income men can find a woman because they can pay a higher price.  What about low-income men?  One solution is to have several take a wife together.

Professor Xie’s proposal is an outrage and underscores the fact that the largest social experiment in the history of the world – the One Child Policy – has resulted in an unmitigated demographic and social disaster.  Xie’s proposal ignores the fact that the reason there are 30 to 40 million more males living in China than females is that the females were selectively aborted – the ultimate form of discrimination against women.  Now, Xie offers a ham-handed supply and demand analysis, with women as the ‘goods.’  The women who survived this ongoing gendercide epidemic are expected to be wives to ‘several’ men.  The misogyny expressed in the selective abortion of baby girls would then lead to the commodification of women as wives of several men.  The impetus driving this proposal is concern for the needs of men, without any concern for the rights or feelings of women.

The bizarre nature of Xie’s proposal – about which Xie insists he is “not joking” — underscores the urgency of addressing China’s intractable gender imbalance — the greatest of any nation in the world, because of the unique pressure of the One Child Policy.  Gendercide will not subside in China under the new two-child policy.  The Chinese government must abandon all coercively enforced birth limits.   Further, Women’s Rights Without Frontiers calls upon the Chinese government to enforce its ban on sex-selective abortion.

Through our “Save a Girl” Campaign, a fieldworker will appear at the door of a woman who is pregnant or who has just given birth, and is being pressured to abort or abandon her daughter, just because she is a girl.  We extend encouragement and practical help, offering a monthly stipend for a year to empower women to keep their daughters.  We have saved almost 200 girls and are ending gendercide, one baby girl at a time.

Posted in gendercide, Reggie Littlejohn, two child policy, Uncategorized, Women's Rights Without Frontiers | Comments Off on Chinese: 40 Million Bachelors Can Just Share Wives

Sen. Ted Cruz Slams One Child Policy, Quotes WRWF’s Reggie Littlejohn

Posted on November 17, 2015 by Reggie Littlejohn

Listen to the short clip of Senator Ted Cruz quoting Women’s Rights Without Frontiers President Reggie Littlejohn from the Senate floor last week, slamming China on the horrors of its human rights-abusing coercive population control:

“This is an outrage. No legitimate government would commit or tolerate such an act.”

None of these human rights abuses will stop under the new two-child policy.

Click Here to listen to his passionate speech.

Learn more about Women’s Rights Without Frontiers and how you can help us help the women and China by clicking here. You can us also stay-up-to-date on these issues by liking us on Facebook and following us on Twitter.

Congressman Chris Smith and Sen. Marco Rubio have also issued statements cautioning that China’s move to a two child policy will not end brutal, coercive population control.

 

Posted in China's One Child Policy, Chinese Communist Party, coerced abortion, communism, crime against humanity, female suicide, Feng Jianmei, Forced Abortion, One Child Policy, pro-choice, pro-life, Reggie Littlejohn, reproductive health, reproductive rights, right to choose, Ted Cruz, Uncategorized, Women's Rights Without Frontiers | Comments Off on Sen. Ted Cruz Slams One Child Policy, Quotes WRWF’s Reggie Littlejohn

The Chinese Communist Party Will Never Abandon Coercive Population Control

Posted on November 3, 2015 by Reggie Littlejohn

“Family Planning” in China Is Social Control, Masquerading as Population Control 

Author’s Note:  This is the first in a four-part series of opinion pieces on the reasons that the Chinese Communist Party will never abandon coercive population control. 

Xinhua News Agency reported on October 29 that China will move to a two-child policy for all couples.   This move replaces the 2014 change that enabled couples to have a second child if one member of the couple is an only child.

Newspaper headlines heralded the change as the “end” or “abandonment” of the One Child Policy.

Not so.  Coercion is the core of the policy.  Instituting a two-child policy will not end forced abortion or forced sterilization.  As blind activist Chen Guangcheng succinctly tweeted:

This is nothing to be happy about. First the #CCP would kill any baby after one. Now they will kill any baby after two. #ChinaOneChildPolicy

The Chinese Communist Party will never end coercive population control, because coercive population is keeping it in place.

All the reasons the Chinese government has given for this adjustment are demographic.  Even if China were to completely abandon all population control now, however, demographers worry that it might be too little, too late to avert the demographic disaster it has caused.  As one researcher stated, “Even if the family-planning policy were terminated today, it would be too late to solve our rapidly ageing population, the drastic shrinkage of the labour force and the gaping hole in social-security funds that the country has already begun struggling with.”[1]

In addition, the most recent modification of the One Child Policy has failed to produce the expected number of births, as couples are self-limiting the size of their families.[2]  

Continuing any form of coercive population control – including a two-child policy — makes no demographic sense.  China’s population problem is not that it has too many people, but too few young people, too few workers and too few women. 

Why, then, does the Chinese Communist Party keep the One Child Policy?

In my opinion, the Chinese Communist Party will never abolish coercive population control.  The government is exploiting so-called “family planning” as social control, masquerading as population control.

The One Child Policy was formally instituted on September 25, 1980 in response to the population explosion under the Mao era, when the average fertility was 5.9 children per woman.  The Policy began as a means to control the population, however brutal and misguided. The terror of forced abortion and involuntary sterilization was a by-product of the Policy.  The fertility rate has fallen to approximately 1.6 children per woman, far below the replacement level of 2.1.  These birth rates are dangerously low. 

Now that keeping the Policy makes no demographic sense, I believe that terror is the purpose of the Policy.  

Forced abortion continues in China, terrifying both women and men.[3]  Some of these forced abortions have been so violent that the women themselves have died along with their full term babies.[4]   Forced abortion is so terrifying that victims at times succumb to mental illness and China has the highest female suicide rate in the world.[5]  

Gong Quifeng is just one woman affected by China’s brutal family policies.  Seven months pregnant with her second son, Quifeng was removed from her home and forced to undergo an abortion procedure in 2011. Her crime?  This was her second pregnancy, in violation of the One Child Policy. Two years later, the induced abortion was still taking its emotional toll and Quifeng was diagnosed with schizophrenia. The story of Quifeng is tragic but hardly unique.

Men also are terrorized.  Some have been killed or maimed for life.[6]  Others have lost control and murdered family planning officials.[7]  Some men have resorted to suicide in protest over the excessive fines imposed by the government.[8]

The spirit of the Cultural Revolution lives on in the family planning police, who function as “womb police” and have been able to steal, intimidate, torture and kill with relative impunity.  The result is a strengthened police state with an intimidated populace unable to offer effective resistance.

The Chinese Communist Party is a brutal, totalitarian regime, responsible for multifarious human rights abuses.  Coercive population control, however, is unique in that it touches each individual and community. CCP maintains its grip on power by extending its arm from Beijing and inserting its hand into every womb to declare life or death over the beating heart inside.


[1] “Critic of One Child Policy in from Cold.” http://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1224885/critic-one-child-policy-cold

4/28/13; “Easing One Child Policy May Be Too Late.” http://yaleglobal.yale.edu/content/easing-one-child-policy-may-be-too-late.  1/7/14.

[2] “Women in China Can Now Have Two Children, But Don’t Celebrate Too Soon.”    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/womens-life/11963915/China-one-child-policy-Its-changed-but-dont-celebrate-too-soon.html 10/30/15.

[3] “China Couple Speak of ‘Forced Abortion.’”  http://news.sky.com/story/1150016/china-couple-speak-of-forced-abortion 10/4/13;  “Four Uyghur Women Forced to Abort Their Babies in Zinjiang.”  http://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/abortion-12302013050902.html; “Xinjiang authorities try to force six women to abort for violating one-child policy.” http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Xinjiang-authorities-try-to-force-six-women-to-abort-for-violating-one-child-policy-29925.html. 12/30/13

[4] “China Couple Speak of ‘Forced Abortion.’”  http://news.sky.com/story/1150016/china-couple-speak-of-forced-abortion 10/4/13;  “Four Uyghur Women Forced to Abort Their Babies in Zinjiang.”  http://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/abortion-12302013050902.html; “Xinjiang authorities try to force six women to abort for violating one-child policy.” http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Xinjiang-authorities-try-to-force-six-women-to-abort-for-violating-one-child-policy-29925.html. 12/30/13.

[5] “Forced abortion at 7 Months – The Horror of China’s One Child Policy Sparks Further Outrage.”  http://www.christianpost.com/news/forced-abortion-at-7-months-the-horror-of-chinas-one-child-policy-sparks-further-outrage-101764/ 8/7/13; “Chinese couple seeks damages for forced abortion.” http://www.worldmag.com/2014/01/chinese_couple_seeks_damages_for_forced_abortion 1/10/14.

[6] “China:  Family Planning Official Stabs Man to Death,” http://www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org/blog/?p=147.  4/5/11.

[7] “Crazed Chinese father-of-four stabs two government officials to death over one child policy.” .” http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2376771/Chinese-father-kills-1-child-policy-officials-registering-4th-child.html  7/24/13.

[8]  “Chinese father of four commits suicide over one-child policy fines so his children can go to school.”  http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/chinese-father-of-four-commits-suicide-over-one-child-policy-fines-so-his-c.  5/26/14; “Farmer drinks poison after being fined for violations of family planning policy.”  http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/830847.shtml 12/8/13

Posted in abortion, China, China's One Child Policy, Chinese Communist Party, coerced abortion, communism, Forced Abortion, forced sterilization, gendercide, One Child Policy, Reggie Littlejohn, two child policy, Uncategorized, Women's Rights Without Frontiers | Comments Off on The Chinese Communist Party Will Never Abandon Coercive Population Control

China’s New Two Child Policy Will Not End Forced Abortion or Gendercide

Posted on October 29, 2015 by Reggie Littlejohn

BEIJING, CHINA. Xinhua News Agency reported today that China will move to a two-child policy for all couples, “abandoning its decades-long one-child policy.”

Characterizing this latest modification as “abandoning” the One-Child Policy is misleading. A two-child policy will not end any of the human rights abuses caused by the One Child Policy, including forced abortion, involuntary sterilization or the sex-selective abortion of baby girls.

The reason given for this adjustment is entirely demographic: “to balance population development and address the challenge of an ageing population.” The adjustment is a tacit admission that continuation of the one-child policy will lead to economic and demographic disaster. The policy was originally instituted for economic reasons. It is ironic that through this very policy, China has written its own economic death sentence.

Noticeably absent from the Chinese Communist party’s announcement is any mention of human rights. The Chinese Communist Party has not suddenly developed a conscience or grown a heart. Even though it will now allow all couples to have a second child, China has not promised to end forced abortion, forced sterilization, or forced contraception.

Coercion is the core of the policy. Instituting a two-child policy will not end forced abortion or forced sterilization.

The problem with the one-child policy is not the number of children “allowed.” Rather, it is the fact that the CCP is telling women how many children they can have and then enforcing that limit through forced abortion and forced sterilization. There is no guarantee that the CCP will cease their appalling methods of enforcement. Women will still have to obtain a government-issued birth permit, for the first and second child, or they may be subject to forced abortion. It will still be illegal for an unmarried woman to have a child. Regardless of the number of children allowed, women who get pregnant without permission will still be dragged out of their homes, strapped down to tables, and forced to abort babies that they want.

Further, instituting a two-child policy will not end gendercide. Indeed, areas in which two children currently are allowed are especially vulnerable to gendercide, the sex-selective abortion of females. According to the 2009 British Medical Journal study of data from the 2005 national census, in nine provinces, for “second order births” where the first child is a girl, 160 boys were born for every 100 girls. In two provinces, Jiangsu and Anhui, for the second child, there were 190 boys for every hundred girls born. This study stated, “sex selective abortion accounts for almost all the excess males.” Because of this gendercide, there are an estimated 37 million Chinese men who will never marry because their future wives were terminated before they were born. This gender imbalance is a powerful, driving force behind trafficking in women and sexual slavery, not only in China, but in neighboring nations as well.

Sending out the message that China has “abandoned” its one-child policy is detrimental to sincere efforts to stop forced abortion and gendercide in China, because this message implies that the one-child policy is no longer a problem. In a world laden with compassion fatigue, people are relieved to cross China’s one-child policy off of their list of things to worry about. But we cannot do that. Let us not abandon the women of China, who continue to face forced abortion, and the baby girls of China, who continue to face sex-selective abortion and abandonment.

The one-child policy does not need to be modified. It needs to be abolished.

Sign our petition to end forced abortion:
http://womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org/index.php?nav=sign_our_petition

Posted in abortion, China's One Child Policy, Chinese Communist Party, coerced abortion, Forced Abortion, forced sterilization, gendercide, One Child Policy, pro-choice, pro-life, Reggie Littlejohn, sex selective abortion, two child policy, Uncategorized, Women's Rights Without Frontiers | Comments Off on China’s New Two Child Policy Will Not End Forced Abortion or Gendercide

As China’s One Child Policy Turns 35, Woman to Abort at 8 Months, Or Husband to Lose Job

Posted on October 29, 2015 by Reggie Littlejohn

BEIJING, CHINA.  A woman “illegally pregnant” with her second child in Yunnan, China says she feels pressured to have an illegal abortion at eight months, so that her husband will not lose his job as a police officer.  Her struggle has given rise to an outcry against the One Child Policy in China, which will turn 35 on September 25th.

According to reports, the 41-year-old woman, who will only identify herself as by her surname, Chen, stated, “I am fearful.  If my husband believes I must abort the child, there’s nothing I can do . . .  I am worried he would lose his job even after we lose the baby, if the situation gets messy.”

Wen Xueping, a Yunnan Family Planning Official, stated, “No way will we force them to have an abortion.”  He did, however, warn of the consequences of having a child without permission.  These consequences can include heavy fines and job loss for government employees, such as Chen’s husband.

Reggie Littlejohn, President of Women’s Rights Without Frontiers, stated, “The statement of the Family Planning Official is typical Chinese communist double-speak.  On one hand, he says that they will not force Chen to have an abortion.  On the other hand, the hefty fines he warns of can be ten times a person’s annual salary.  If a couple cannot afford to pay this ‘terror fine,’ then they have no choice but an abortion.  This constitutes a forced abortion.”

On June 12, 2012, Women’s Rights Without Frontiers broke to the West news of the forced abortion of Feng Jianmei, posting a heartbreaking photo of Feng with her daughter, forcibly aborted at seven months.  [Warning, graphic image.]   The brutality of this violence unleashed a firestorm of criticism against forced abortion under China’s One Child Policy. http://www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org/blog/?p=667

Littlejohn continued, “The fact that  Chen is now being forced to choose between abortion at 8 months and the loss of her husband’s job demonstrates that forced abortion continues to this day under China’s One Child Policy.  Headlines have stated that the Policy has been ‘relaxed,’ allowing some couples to have a second child.  But in the urban areas, if both members of a couple have siblings, these couples still can have only one child.  If they get pregnant without a Birth Permit, they may still be subject to forced abortion.

“The anguish of  Chen dramatically demonstrates that China’s forced abortion policy needs to be abolished now.  Forced abortion is official government rape.  The One Child Policy – having ‘prevented’ 400 million births, too often by forced abortion — has caused more violence against women and girls than any other official policy on earth and any other official policy in history.  This heinous crime against women must end.”

Sign a petition against forced abortion in China: http://www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org/index.php?nav=sign_our_petition

Read the South China Morning Post (AP) Report: Outcry as Chinese woman considers illegal abortion at 8 months, fearing draconian one-child policy means her husband would lost job

http://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/1856171/outcry-chinese-woman-considers-illegal-abortion-8

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on As China’s One Child Policy Turns 35, Woman to Abort at 8 Months, Or Husband to Lose Job