Police Rescue 37 Babies From Baby-Selling Trafficking Ring in China

Posted on April 15, 2015 by Reggie Littlejohn

By Sarah Zagorski

Partially republished with permission from LifeNews.com. Link to full article at the bottom.

Earlier this [year], China Central Television reported that authorities rescued 37 babies and a toddler out of an abandoned factory in the southwestern province of Shandong. The children were found in poor condition and many were suffering from HIV-AIDS and malnutrition. Police first became suspicious of the trafficking ring when they noticed that pregnant women were being herded into the factory.

According to CNN, human traffickers were recruiting pregnant women in the area willing to sell their babies and hid them in the factory until they gave birth. Then, after the women had their babies, they gave the newborns over to the traffickers and left.

A Chinese police official, Chen Shiqu, said that the incident is a “new criminal pattern” in which child traffickers take pregnant women to a specific place to give birth. Currently, police have 103 people in custody who are suspected of selling or buying children.

As LifeNews previously reported, Reggie Littlejohn, the president of Women’s Rights Without Frontiers, explained that the brutal One-Child Policy is largely to blame for the trafficking problems in China. She said, “The One Child Policy is the driving force in trafficking. Couples who do not have a son want to obtain a boy through trafficking. Couples who already have a son may want to traffic a girl into their family, to ensure that their son will have a bride when he grows up. In China, the marriage market is on the road to collapse. Because of  the pronounced gender imbalance caused by gendercide – the selective abortion of baby girls – there are currently about 37 million more males living in China than females.”

Read the full article at LifeNews.com: http://www.lifenews.com/2015/01/16/police-rescue-37-babies-from-baby-selling-trafficking-ring-in-china/

Posted in China's One Child Policy, coerced abortion, human trafficking, Reggie Littlejohn, Uncategorized | Comments Off on Police Rescue 37 Babies From Baby-Selling Trafficking Ring in China

Chinese Men Outnumber Women by 33 Million After Decades of Gender Bias

Posted on April 9, 2015 by Reggie Littlejohn
Republished with permission from Radio Free Asia

(Radio Free Asia) – China was home to 33 million more men than women in 2014, renewing a long-running controversy over selective abortion, abandoned baby girls, and the country’s family planning restrictions, according to government figures released this week.

China’s population stood at 1.36 billion at the end of last year, according to official statistics released this week, of whom 700 million are men and 667 million are women.

“The gender ratio at birth is still dangerously high, with 115.88 boys born to every 100 girls in 2014,” the official Xinhua news agency reported. The figures compare with a global average of 103 to 107 boys to every 100 girls.

China’s gender ratio peaked far above the global average of 107 in 2004 at 121.18, and fell to 115.8 in 2014, the National Health and Family Planning Commission said in a statement on its website on Wednesday.

But it warned that the ratio is still higher than in any other country.

“The gender imbalance in [China] is the most serious in the world, and has lasted for the longest period of time and affected the largest number of people,” the Commission said.

It said the government plans to crack down further on blood-testing to determine the sex of a fetus, as families continue to send blood samples overseas for testing to circumvent a domestic ban on the practice.

It reiterated warnings to agencies who make money sending the samples overseas, reminding medical staff that carrying, mailing or transporting blood samples abroad is illegal.

One-child policy

Experts said the gender imbalance in China’s population can be traced back to the start of the “one-child policy” during the 1970s.

Gender studies scholar Lu Pin, who edits the online newspaper Women’s Voice, said the policy had combined with a preference in Chinese traditional culture for male heirs, whose duty it is to care for their parents in old age.

“The one-child policies actually allow for the gender bias in favor of boys, and, as such, can be said to bear some responsibility for reinforcing it,” Lu said.

“In rural areas, the one-child policy was always in effect a ‘one-and-a-half child policy,’ because couples would be allowed a second child if the first was a girl,” she said.

“If the first-born was a boy, then they wouldn’t be allowed to have another.”

She said the government had colluded with traditional ideas that boys are more valuable than girls.

“We should really reflect on this aspect of our family-planning policies,” Lu added.

Cheng Yuan, acting director of the non-governmental Pingji Center in Guangzhou, said the stringent population controls of the past four decades had also ensured that there aren’t so many younger people to take care of the country’s elderly.

“The one-child policy has caused other problems, too. Namely that of an aging population,” Cheng said.

“The burden on [younger] relatives will be much heavier, while the aging problem is more apparent at a time when China’s social security and welfare system is far from ideal,” she said.

Easing of restrictions

In the first significant easing of the one-child policy in nearly 30 years, Beijing announced at the end of 2013 that couples will be allowed to have two children if one of the parents is an only child.

Previously, most parents were restricted to having one child, although the political and financial elite were able to afford the financial penalties, and often have larger families.

Urban couples were permitted a second child if both parents do not have siblings, while rural couples were allowed to have two children if their first-born was a girl.

But overseas women’s rights campaigners say the changes aren’t likely to reduce the number of forced abortions and abandoned girl babies, or ease human trafficking in the country, as a growing number of rural men have trouble finding wives.

According to Reggie Littlejohn, founder and president of California-based Women’s Rights Without Frontiers, allowing couples to have two children if either parent is an only child under a so-called reform of the one-child policy won’t end voluntary, sex-selective abortion of baby girls.

Littlejohn has called on Beijing to reduce the numbers of aborted or abandoned girls by providing economic incentives to families giving birth to girls and special compensation to retirement-age couples who have no sons to support them.

And many couples continue to face large fines, seizure of their property and loss of their jobs, as well as forced abortions and sterilizations, and even violent forced evictions by local officials, if they break the rules.

China last year launched pilot drop zones for unwanted infants in 25 major cities last year in a bid to prevent unwanted babies from being left to die on the streets, but many schemes were forced to close after being overwhelmed, mostly by infants with severe disabilities.

Reported by Lin Ping for RFA’s Mandarin Service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie.

Read original article at rfa.com: http://www.rfa.org/english/news/china/gender-01222015125826.html

Posted in abortion, China's One Child Policy, coerced abortion, communist, Forced Abortion, gendercide, One Child Policy, pro-choice, pro-life, Reggie Littlejohn, reproductive rights, right to choose, sex selective abortion, two child policy, Uncategorized | Comments Off on Chinese Men Outnumber Women by 33 Million After Decades of Gender Bias

Women ‘still dying’ after China’s 1-child policy ‘eased’

Posted on April 2, 2015 by Reggie Littlejohn
Congressman Chris Smith, Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng, and Women’s Rights Without Frontiers President Reggie Littlejohn spoke out against coercive family planning in China at The Heritage Foundation in October 2014

Congressman Chris Smith, Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng, and Women’s Rights Without Frontiers President Reggie Littlejohn spoke out against coercive family planning in China at The Heritage Foundation in October 2014

By Bob Unruh

Republished with permission from World Net Daily

A women’s-rights activist battling China over its one-child policy says no one should be fooled by the communist government’s insistence that the practice has been “eased,” because the infamous forced abortions continue.

“The core of the problem is not whether the government is allowing one child or two children,” Reggie Littlejohn, president of Womens Rights Without Frontiers, told WND on Wednesday.

“The government is still telling how many children people can have and is enforcing that limit with coerced abortions,” she said. “And it’s not clear to me that there are fewer abortions. Women and babies still are dying.”

Littlejohn pointed out China still requires a birth permit for the first child and for the second child.

“Without a permit, there still are forced abortions, unless you’re rich enough to buy your way out,” she said.

Her organization has created an Internet petition calling for an end to forced abortions.

Littlejohn’s frustration stems from things like a recent China Daily headline that stated “Shanghai couples urged to have 2nd children.”

Some organizations are declaring such headlines a “victory” in the fight against the restrictive nation’s one-child policy.

But Littlejohn said that “to proclaim victory while women and babies in China are dying – that is misleading.”

On Jan. 1, 2014, the Chinese Communist Party “tweaked” the policy that has brought forced abortion to hundreds of millions of women.

According to the new policy, some women – those who are only children themselves or have a husband who is an only child – are being allowed a second child, if they obtain permission.

Littlejohn noted one non-profit organization recently released a statement that it “would like to celebrate and rejoice” in the “victory” that additional babies have been born under the most recent exception.

“Their statement – and the reports published in the mainstream media – do not mention the fact that the Chinese Communist Party has made no promise whatsoever to end coercive birth control,” she said.

In fact, the government said at the same time it was urging couples to have more children that National Health and Family Planning Commission officials said in November 2014 that China had no plans to suspend or further relax its one-child policy.

Blind activist Chen Guangcheng, at a Heritage Foundation event last fall, described the brutal government practices.

“In today’s China, under the communist rule, the government can put their hand into your body, grab your baby out of your womb, and kill your baby in your face,” he said.

At the same event, Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., said it was “the most egregious, vicious attack on women ever.”

China’s one-child policy announced in 1979 is state-sponsored violence against women and children – including and especially the girl child – and constitutes massive crimes against humanity,” Smith said.

Littlejohn said the “coercive enforcement of the one-child policy continues unabated, destroying women, children, whole families – and indeed, the fabric of Chinese society.”

“It constitutes the greatest women’s rights violation on the face of the earth and in the history of the world. Whether you are pro-life or pro-choice, no one supports forced abortion, because it is not a choice. The one-child policy does not need to be ‘eased.’ It needs to be abolished.”

Her organization has monitored some of the policy’s consequent horrors, including murder and suicide, that still are prevalent.

For example, parents who don’t have a permit for a child sometimes are charged “social compensation fees” of up to 14 times a person’s annual salary.

Without making those payments, however, the children are denied health care and education.

Most abuses from the policy never are reported, she said, but among some cases that did come to light:

  • A man in the Guangxi Region stabbed to death two government workers because they told him he could not registered his child without paying the fees.
  • In Hunan Province, a husband demanded compensation from the Chinese government, claiming that his wife, Gong Qifeng, has suffered from schizophrenia and violent behavior since she was forcibly aborted at seven months in November 2011.
  • A farmer in Hebei Province who did not have the money to pay the extra fines and fees committed suicide by drinking pesticide “during a dispute with family planning officials.”
  • And an obstetrician in Shaanxi province, Zhang Shuxia, was convicted of trafficking seven infants after she had convinced their parents that the infants were seriously ill or deceased. She was given a suspended death sentence.

“The minor modification of the policy that took place on January 1, 2014: 1) does not affect a large percentage of couples in China; 2) retains the dreaded ‘birth intervals’ between children (if a woman gets pregnant before the interval has lapsed, she may be subject to forced abortion); and 3) makes no promise to end the coercive enforcement of the policy,” Littlejohn said in a statement.

“To proclaim ‘victory’ under these circumstances is entirely unwarranted and may mislead many into thinking that the One Child Policy is a thing of the past,” her statement said.

“This is a time to increase pressure for change, not to release it,” she said.

WND reported Littlejohn’s criticism of Washington’s decision to promote China from Tier 3 to Tier 2 status on its watch list of human rights violators.

“The Chinese government’s efforts to remedy the problems that brought it to a ‘Tier 3′ status range from ineffective to non-existent,” Littlejohn said at the time.

Her new comments followed the release by Washington of its 2014 Trafficking in Persons report.

“The report appears to attribute this promotion to a technical modification of the one-child policy,” Littlejohn said.

The State Department reasoned that the Chinese government “maintained efforts to prevent trafficking in persons.”

“In November 2013, the government modified its birth limitation policy to allow families with one single-child parent to have a second child, a change that may affect future demand for prostitution and for foreign women as brides for Chinese men – both of which may be procured by force or coercion. TIP Report, p. 134.”

Littlejohn said the fact that China “tweaked” the policy “does not signify that it ‘maintained efforts to prevent trafficking in persons.’”

“Allowing a relatively small number of families to have a second child will not end gendercide or sexual slavery in China,” she said.

“The selective abortion and abandonment of baby girls is most prevalent in the countryside, where couples already can have a second child if the first child is a girl,” Littlejohn said. “Even if the most recent modification were to improve gender ratios at birth, the impact on sexual slavery would not be felt for decades to come.”

Read original article at wnd.com: http://www.wnd.com/2015/02/women-still-dying-after-chinas-1-child-policy-eased/

Posted in abortion, Chen Guangcheng, China, China's One Child Policy, Chris Smith, coerced abortion, Forced Abortion, forced sterilization, gendercide, Heritage Foundation, One Child Policy, pro-choice, pro-life, Reggie Littlejohn, reproductive health, reproductive rights, right to choose, Trafficking in Persons Report, two child policy, Uncategorized | Comments Off on Women ‘still dying’ after China’s 1-child policy ‘eased’

Reggie Littlejohn Speaks at United Nations Three Times — Charges Complicity with Forced Abortion in China

Posted on March 27, 2015 by Reggie Littlejohn
Reggie Littlejohn speaks to leaders from dozens of nations at the UN headquarters, March 19, 2015. Credit: Voice of America, Ron Shi

Reggie Littlejohn speaks to leaders from dozens of nations at the UN headquarters, March 19, 2015. Credit: Voice of America, Ron Shi

Dear Friends,

I was humbled to speak three times at the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women earlier this month, to standing room only crowds representing more than 30 nations. Our message: forced abortion and gendercide under China’s One Child Policy are the greatest crimes against women and girls in the world today. Further, the U.S. and the U.N. are complicit through funding the UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund. Our message was published far and wide, including in the Chinese press, prompting major pieces in Voice of America and Radio Free Asia. The Women’s United Nations Reporting Network published our Statement to tens of thousands of women’s rights activists all over the world.  Here is an excellent piece by WorldNetDaily, republished with permission.

U.N., U.S. Complicit in Worldwide War on Women

UNITED NATIONS – The United Nations and the Obama administration are turning a blind eye as millions of girls in China and India are murdered, and women are forced to undergo abortions and sterilizations.

A group of women’s-rights activists made that explosive accusation Friday at a standing-room-only event, as the U.N. marks the 20th anniversary of the World Conference on Women.

“China is so powerful in the United Nations no one wants to offend them, so they are

Reggie Littlejohn spoke to a stand room only crowd at the UN on March 13, 2015, together with Rebecca Oas of C-FAM, Anne Morse of the Population Research Institute, and Arina Grossu of the Family Research Institute. Photo courtesy of FRC.

Reggie Littlejohn spoke to a stand room only crowd at the UN on March 13, 2015, together with Rebecca Oas of C-FAM, Anne Morse of the Population Research Institute, and Arina Grossu of the Family Research Institute. Photo courtesy of FRC.

willing to turn a blind eye to the biggest women’s-rights issue in the world today – forced abortions in China,” Reggie Littlejohn, president of Women’s Rights Without Frontiers told WND.

The Family Research Council, Population Research Institute and the Catholic Family and Research Institute joined Littlejohn to draw attention to the widespread incidence of forced abortion, forced sterilization and outright murder of female infants in China and India.

A U.N. expert estimates up to 200 million women are missing in the world today due to ‘gendercide,’ the selective abortion, abandonment or fatal neglect of baby girls.

“The words, ‘it’s a girl,’ are the deadliest words on Earth when said at the birth of a child” in China and India, Littlejohn said.

The Chinese Communist Party boasts its “One-Child Policy” has “prevented” 400 million lives – a number greater than the entire population of the United States and Canada. The Party’s use of forced abortion is well documented and is compounded by the widespread use of sex-selective abortions by parents seeking to have a male child. When couples are restricted to one child, women are often pressured by husbands and in-laws to only give birth to a boy.

It’s reported that China has 13 million abortions per year – that’s 35,000 per day and 1,485 per hour. While China’s population is four times greater than that of the U.S., the abortion rate is 13 times higher.

The U.S. is complicit with forced abortions in China through funding of the U.N. Population Fund (UNFPA), Littlejohn charged.

“In China, the UNFPA and International Planned Parenthood have been working hand in hand with the Chinese Communist Party on family planning, which has been found to be coercive,” she said.

Previous administrations cut funding for UNFPA because of its complicity with forced abortion and forced family planning in China.

“One of the first things President Obama did on coming into office was to restore that funding,” noted Littlejohn.

“Hillary Clinton has come out strongly opposing forced abortion and forced sterilization in China on one hand, and on the other hand she has said we’re not going to let human rights get in the way of our trade relations,” Littlejohn said.

President Clinton’s administration was the first to de-link human rights from trade relations with China.

“Since then, human rights in China has plummeted to appalling depths. I believe a lot of the responsibility for the horrific condition of human rights in China has to do with that delinking that happened in the Clinton administration,” charged Littlejohn.

WND reported how Beijing used pro-”free trade” advisers inside the Clinton administration to persuade President Clinton to ignore human-rights abuses in China and lay the foundation for wholesale U.S. investment in the communist nation. The Clinton family has received millions of dollars in speaking fees and donations to the family foundation from companies doing business in or tied to China.

The U.N. has been marking the 20th anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women this week. Dignitaries from around the world attended that conference in Beijing 20 years ago, including most notably Hillary Clinton. Events at U.N. headquarters in New York this month are discussing what progress has been made on the status of women.

Read the original WorldNetDaily article here:

U.N., U.S. Complicit in Worldwide War on Women
http://www.wnd.com/2015/03/charge-u-n-u-s-complicit-in-worldwide-war-on-women/

Note:   WRWF thanks the NGOs co-sponsoring the UNCSW events at which she is speaking: Endeavour Forum, Family Research Council, C-Fam, Eagle Forum and the Population Research Institute.

Posted in China's One Child Policy, coerced abortion, Forced Abortion, forced sterilization, One Child Policy, pro-choice, pro-life, Reggie Littlejohn, reproductive health, reproductive rights, right to choose, Uncategorized, UNCSW, UNFPA, United Nations, war on women, women's rights, Women's Rights Without Frontiers | Comments Off on Reggie Littlejohn Speaks at United Nations Three Times — Charges Complicity with Forced Abortion in China

Littlejohn to U.N. — 20 Years After Beijing, No Progress Ending Forced Abortion in China

Posted on March 19, 2015 by Reggie Littlejohn
Reggie Littlejohn.

Reggie Littlejohn.

The 1995 Beijing Platform calls for an end to violence against women, including “Physical, sexual and psychological violence perpetrated by the State, wherever it occurs.” Paragraph 113(c). Forced abortion constitutes such violence, and yet in the 20 years since the Beijing Platform, forced abortion continues in China. In addition, Paragraph 277(c) calls governments and NGOs to “eliminate all forms of discrimination against the girl child . . . such as prenatal sex selection and female infanticide . . . ” and yet these practices are rampant in China and India.

At the 1995 Beijing Women’s Conference, former First Lady Hillary Clinton boldly proclaimed, “If there is one message that echoes forth from this conference, let it be that human rights are women’s rights – and women’s rights are human rights, once and for all.” Yet, no substantial progress has been made to eliminate forced abortion or gendercide since the Beijing Conference. Much work remains to be done and the elimination of forced abortion and gendercide should be front and center in all discussions regarding progress of women’s rights (or the lack thereof) in Beijing +20.

It is ironic that the UN is discussing the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action — focusing on gender equality and empowerment of women — while blatantly ignoring China’s own intentional, governmental subjugation of women and girls as expressed through the coercive enforcement of the One Child Policy. An event discussing forced abortion and gendercide in China should be held as one of the Plenary Sessions before all delegates, rather than relegated to various “Side” and “Parallel” events? Is this an indication that China is so powerful at the U.N. that even the UNCSW is willing to turn a blind eye to the biggest women’s rights violation on earth and in the history of the world?

China Will Not Abandon the One-Child Policy, Despite Reports

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang has recently stated that China is considering a further reform

Reggie Littlejohn in front of UN

Reggie Littlejohn in front of UN

of the hated One Child Policy, giving rise to news reports with titles such as, “Is China Going to Abandon the One Child Policy?” My answer to that is an emphatic: No, China is not going to abandon the One Child Policy.

The Chinese government sees the two-fold demographic disaster caused by the One Child Policy. First, the policy has caused a dangerously skewed gender imbalance in which there are 37 million more men living in China today than women. Second, China does not have enough young people to support its quickly aging population.

In my opinion, the Chinese Communist Party will likely announce that soon, all couples can have a second child. But this will not be the end of the One Child Policy. Women will still need a birth permit for the first and the second child. Without this permit, they will still be subject to forced abortion. The core of the policy is not the number of children the Chinese government will allow women to have. The core of the policy is that the Chinese government is telling women how many children they can have, and enforcing that limit through forced abortion, forced sterilization, and forced contraception – the mandatory insertion of IUDs.

The One Child Policy does not need to be reformed. It needs to be abolished. Women’s Rights Without Frontiers demands that the Chinese government cease to interfere with each family’s decision on how many children they will have. We demand an end to government sponsored forced abortion, forced sterilization, forced contraception, pregnancy checks and tracking of women’s menstrual cycles. The entire, vast network of Family Planning Police must be dismissed.

The women of the world will be free only when the women of China are free.

“It’s a Girl” – The Deadliest Words in the World

For most of us, “it’s a girl” is cause for enormous joy, happiness and celebration. But in many countries, this phrase can be a death sentence. In fact, the words, “it’s a girl” are the deadliest words on earth when said at the birth of a child. According to one U.N. estimate, up to 200 million women are missing in the world today due to “gendercide,” the selective abortion, abandonment or deadly neglect of baby girls just because they are female.

On September 18, 2014, it was reported that a student at Linyi University had given birth in a university bathroom and had abandoned her newborn daughter in the toilet pipe.

In March 2015, the photo went viral of a father and daughter handcuffed together as they traveled together to visit family for the Chinese new year. The father sought to protect his daughter from child trafficking, because girls are in such short supply.

This is not a pro-choice or a pro-life issue. This is a human rights issue that must be approached as an area of common ground. No one supports the systematic elimination of women and girls.

Forced Abortion and Gendercide Are Not a Choice. They are the true “War against Women.”  Forced abortion is not a choice. It is official government rape.
The Chinese Communist Party boasts that it has “prevented” 400 million lives through its brutal One Child Policy. That is a greater number than the entire population of the United States and Canada combined. Each one of these 400 million lives “prevented” is a victim of communism. This is the hallmark of communist regimes: the peace-time killing of their own citizens.
China Has Not ‘Eased’ Coercive Population Control Under it’s One Child Policy. These atrocities continue to this day.

To learn more about forced abortion in China, watch STOP FORCED ABORTION, CHINA’S WAR ON WOMEN  http://www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org/?nav=stop-forced-abortion

More often than not, gendercide is not a choice either. There is a strong correlation between sex-selective abortion and coercion. Crushing social, economic, political and personal pressures in cultures with a strong son preference trample women carrying girls. All too often, women in these cultures do not “select” their daughters for abortion. They are forced.

To learn more about sex-selective abortion in China and India, watch the trailer to the IT’S A GIRL documentary.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISme5-9orR0

In China, the birth ratio of girls to boys is the most skewed in the world. The sex ratio at birth has risen from 108.5 in 1982 to almost 118 boys born for every 100 girls born in 2010. India is not far behind.
Sons traditionally carry on the family name, work the fields, and take care of their parents in old age. A daughter joins her husband’s family at marriage. There is a saying: “Raising a girl is like watering someone else’s garden.” The One Child Policy exacerbates the underlying son preference. When couples are restricted to one child, women often become the focus of intense pressure by their husband and in-laws to ensure a boy.
A woman need not be dragged out of her home and strapped down to a table to be a victim of forced abortion. Persistent emotional pressure, estrangement from the extended family, threat of abandonment or divorce, verbal abuse, and domestic violence often overpower women who otherwise would choose to keep their daughters.
Systematic, sex-selective abortion constitutes gendercide. Because of this gendercide, there are an estimated 37 million more men than women in China today. The presence of these “excess males” is the driving force behind human trafficking and sexual slavery, not only within China but from surrounding nations as well.
China has the highest female suicide rate of any country in the world. According to the 2013 U.S. State Department China Human Rights Report, the numbers of female suicides have risen sharply in the past several years, from 500 women per day to 590.
China’s One Child Policy causes more violence against women and girls than any other official policy on earth and any other official policy in the history of the world. This is the true “War Against Women.”

UNCSW’s Agreed Conclusions Condemned Forced Abortion; They Need to Condemn Gendercide

The UNCSW’s topic for 2013 was “Elimination and Prevention of All Forms of Violence Against Women and Girls.”

Women’s Rights Without Frontiers was honored to make four presentations about forced abortion and gendercide in China at the UNCSW in 2013. We forcefully argued that there is no greater violence against women than forced abortion, up to the ninth month of pregnancy. Women themselves sometimes die as a result of these violent procedures. There is no greater violence against girls than gendercide, which has claimed up to 200 million lives of girls selected for abortion solely because they are girls.

We achieved a partial victory and commend the following language from 2013’s “Agreed Conclusions”:

34. The Commission urges government, at all levels, and as appropriate, with the relevant entities of the United Nations system, international and regional organizations . . . to take the following actions:
. . . .
(aaa) Condemn and take action to prevent violence against women and girls in health-care settings, including . . . forced medical procedures, or those conducted without informed consent, and which may be irreversible, such as forced hysterectomy, forced caesarean section, forced sterilization, forced abortion, and forced use of contraceptives . . .

These Agreed Conclusions represent an acknowledgement that forced medical procedures are a form of violence against women and call for an international condemnation of such procedures.

While the Agreed Conclusions condemn coercive family planning in the form of forced medical procedures, they take no stand on gendercide, the sex-selective abortion, abandonment and fatal neglect of baby girls. If the UNCSW stands for women’s rights, it must take a stand against the selective abortion of up to 200 million baby girls. We call upon them to do so in the Agreed Conclusions for 2015.

WRWF Calls for an Investigation of UNFPA

The UNCSW, moreover, should follow its own advice to “condemn and take action to prevent violence against women . . .” by thoroughly investigating the activities of the UNFPA in China. Former Secretary of State Colin Powell found the UNFPA to be complicit with coercive family planning in China. WRWF believes that any independent investigation of the UNFPA’s current practices would arrive at the same conclusion.

Forced Abortion in China Is Linked to Breast Cancer in Women and Low Birth Weight, Increased Chance of Death in Subsequent Pregnancies.

TIANJIN, CHINA. A medical study from China has revealed an additional way in which women are victimized by the One-Child Policy: significantly increased risk of breast cancer.
Researchers in China have found that the dramatic rise in breast cancer in China is associated with the prevalence of induced abortions (IA) under the One-Child Policy. The study, conducted by a team of epidemiologists from Tianjin Medical University Cancer Hospital, analyzed data from over 36 different studies in both the United States and China.

Their conclusion:
“IA [is] significantly associated with an increased risk of breast cancer among Chinese females, and the risk of breast cancer increases as the number of IA increases.” Specifically, the study found that one IA increases a woman’s risk of breast cancer by 44 percent, two by 76 percent, and three by 89 percent.

The study notes that historically, China has had low breast cancer rates when compared with Western nations, but “the incidence of breast cancer in China ha[s] increased at an alarming rate over the past two decades.” The study notes that this rise “was paralleled to the one-child-per-family policy.”

In our view, the strong association of abortion and breast cancer established by this study brings the women’s rights violations under the One Child Policy to a new level: a woman pregnant in China without a birth permit is subjected to both government imposed forced abortion, and also breast cancer as a result of it. Where abortion is forced, the subsequent development of breast cancer becomes a violation of women’s rights in itself. “China: One-Child Policy Linked to Breast Cancer – Study.” http://www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org/blog/?p=1428. 12/2/13

Forced Abortion in China Correlates with Low Birth Weight, Increased Chance of Death in Subsequent Pregnancies

A dissertation submitted to the University of Hong Kong found that children in China are more likely to face serious health complications, including death, if their mothers have had multiple induced abortions. The study concluded that having more than one abortion increases the risk of low birth weight in subsequent pregnancies. Indeed, women who have had three or more induced abortions are at five times the risk of preterm birth in a subsequent pregnancy.
The study, conducted by Cui Limin, explained that nearly two thirds of neonatal deaths are related to low birth weight. For children surviving infancy, LBW increases the risk of neuron-developmental problems, respiratory tract infections, and behavioral problems. According to the study, those with very LBW suffer from conditions including cerebral palsy, blindness, impaired hearing and learning disabilities. Besides harming the child, these health problems put extra financial strain on parents, the study noted.
Women in China are forced into induced-labor abortions, up to the ninth month of pregnancy. In our view, this is a violation of women’s rights of the first degree. We are now learning that these forced abortions also put their future children at risk for respiratory complications, cerebral palsy, and even death related to low birth weight. They also may damage a woman’s future reproductive and general health. This is a violation of the women’s rights and the rights of their future children. Forced abortion must be stopped, and families should be compensated if their children experience health problems caused by previous induced labor forced abortions.
According to the study, 14.37 million induced abortions were performed in 2012 – one quarter of the abortions in the world — many of which were repeat abortions. The study credited the One-Child Policy as “one of the most important factors for the increased induced abortion rate,” and cited the prevalence of forced and sex-selective abortions in China.”
There Is Hope: Our “Save a Girl” Campaign
Fortunately, there is hope. Women’s Rights Without Frontiers has launched the “Save a

This baby girl from rural China was saved from abandonment by WRWF's "Save a Girl" Campaign.

This baby girl from rural China was saved from abandonment by WRWF’s “Save a Girl” Campaign.

Girl” Campaign in rural China, and we are stopping gendercide, one baby girl at a time. We have field workers in China who reach out to women who have had an ultrasound, learned that they are pregnant with a girl, and are planning to abort or abandon her. A field worker will visit that woman and say, “Don’t abort your baby just because she’s a girl. She’s a precious daughter. We will give you a monthly stipend for a year, to help you support her.” The practical support we offer empowers these women to keep their daughters.
We are also living the mission every day, around our own kitchen table. With the help of Cong. Chris Smith, Jing Zhang, Hu Jia and other brave souls in the United States and China, we were able to obtain safe passage from China to the United States for Anni and Ruli Zhang, the daughters of veteran pro-democracy activist Zhang Lin, who is currently serving a 3.5 year jail sentence for standing up for 10-year-old Anni’s right to go to school. My husband Robert and I have taken Anni and Ruli into our family and are raising them as our own daughters.

Every struggling mother in China and India deserves help to keep her daughter. Together, we can end forced abortion and gendercide and sweep these atrocities against women into the dung-heap of history, where they belong.

Learn more about the “Save a Girl” campaign:
http://womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org/index.php?nav=end-gendercide-and-forced-abortion

WRWF thanks the Permanent Mission of Sierra Leone to the UN, as well as the NGOs co-sponsoring the UNCSW events at which she is speaking: Endeavour Forum, Family Research Council, C-Fam, Eagle Forum and the Population Research Institute.

Related Links:

China plans further changes to one-child policy 3/15/15
http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/china-plans-further-changes-one-child-policy-1492037

Is China Going to Abandon the One-Child Policy? 3/9/15
http://www.theepochtimes.com/n3/1276496-is-china-going-to-abandon-the-one-child-policy/

Posted in abortion, Breast Cancer, China, China's One Child Policy, Chinese Communist Party, coerced abortion, female suicide, Forced Abortion, forced sterilization, gendercide, It's a Girl, One Child Policy, pro-choice, pro-life, Reggie Littlejohn, reproductive health, reproductive rights, Save a Girl, sex selective abortion, Uncategorized, UNCSW, UNFPA, Women's Rights Without Frontiers | Comments Off on Littlejohn to U.N. — 20 Years After Beijing, No Progress Ending Forced Abortion in China

International Women’s Day a Travesty for Chinese Women and Baby Girls

Posted on March 9, 2015 by Reggie Littlejohn

International Women’s Day will not be celebrated by hundreds of millions of Chinese women who live under the iron fist of the One Child Policy, many of whom have been victims of forced abortion up to the ninth month of pregnancy, as well as forced sterilization. They have had a fundamental right stripped away: the right to bear children. 

WRWF President Reggie Littlejohn stated, “I find it impossible to celebrate any advancement of women’s rights anywhere on earth, when one out of five women in the world is subject to a regime that will strap them down to tables, thrust its hands into their wombs and rip their little ones out, as these women scream and plead for the lives of babies they desperately want. The women’s movement can claim no real victory so long as this scourge against women continues to blight the face of the earth. Chinese women cannot stand up against forced abortion without risking detention, for themselves and for their families. It is time for all women to rise up for our sisters in China and be a voice for the voiceless.” 

Watch a 4-minute video, “Stop Forced Abortion.”  http://www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org/?nav=stop-forced-abortion

Sign a petition to stop forced abortion: http://www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org/index.php?nav=sign_our_petition

Moreover, an estimated 200 million women will not be celebrating International Women’s Day today, because they are not alive. They were selectively aborted just because they were girls – victims of “gendercide.” Son preference runs amok in both China and India; both countries suffer from a vast gender imbalance, which in turn is driving human trafficking and sexual slavery.

Littlejohn continued, “The message of sex-selective abortion is that girls and women do not deserve to live. The selective elimination of 200 million women demands the passionate outrage of the women’s movement. Indeed, eliminating the coercive enforcement of China’s One Child Policy – and the elimination of son preference and sex-selective abortion — should be the number one priority of the international women’s movement.”

Women’s Rights Without Frontiers has launched a “Save a Girl” Campaign in China, which rescues baby girls from gendercide. Learn more about how you can help here: http://womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org/index.php?nav=end-gendercide-and-forced-abortion 

Posted in China's One Child Policy, Chinese Communist Party, coerced abortion, Forced Abortion, forced sterilization, gendercide, International Women's Day, One Child Policy, pro-choice, pro-life, Reggie Littlejohn, reproductive health, reproductive rights, Save a Girl, sex selective abortion, Uncategorized, war on women, Women's Rights Without Frontiers | Comments Off on International Women’s Day a Travesty for Chinese Women and Baby Girls

CHINA’S ONE CHILD POLICY CONTINUES TO DESTROY LIVES, DESPITE REPORTS

Posted on March 5, 2015 by Reggie Littlejohn
Congressman Chris Smith, Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng, and Women’s Rights Without Frontiers President Reggie Littlejohn spoke out against coercive family planning in China at The Heritage Foundation in October 2014.

Congressman Chris Smith, Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng, and Women’s Rights Without Frontiers President Reggie Littlejohn spoke out against coercive family planning in China at The Heritage Foundation in October 2014.

On January 1, 2014, the Chinese Communist Party tweaked the One Child Policy, allowing couples in which either parent is an only child to have a second child.  This minor exception has been widely and wrongfully reported as an “easing” or “relaxation” of the One Child Policy.  One non-profit organization recently released a statement that they “would like to celebrate and rejoice” in the “victory” that additional babies have been born under the most recent exception.  Their statement – and the reports published in the mainstream media — do not mention the fact that the Chinese Communist Party has made no promise whatsoever to end coercive birth control.  To the contrary, on January 28, 2015, Chinese Communist Party news organ Chinadaily.com stated, “National Health and Family Planning Commission officials said in November [2014] that China currently has no plans to suspend or further relax its One-Child Policy.”  “Shanghai Couples Urged to have 2nd Children” 1/28/15 http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2015-01/28/content_19424074.htm

 At an October 2014 event concerning the One Child Policy co-hosted by The Heritage Foundation and Women’s Rights Without Frontiers, blind activist Chen Guangcheng described a “war zone” caused by brutal family planning abuses: “In today’s China, under the Communist rule, the government can put their hand into your body, grab your baby out of your womb, and kill your baby in your face.”  “They Will Kill Your Baby in Your Face – Chinese Activist Chen Guangcheng” 11/4/14  http://www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org/blog/?p=1863.  At the same event, Cong. Chris Smith called the one-child policy, “the most egregious, vicious attack on women ever.  China’s one-child policy announced in 1979 is state-sponsored violence against women and children – including and especially the girl child – and constitutes massive crimes against humanity.”  400 Million Lives “Prevented” through the One Child Policy, Chinese Official Says 10/10/14 http://cnsnews.com/news/article/penny-starr/400-million-lives-prevented-through-one-child-policy-chinese-official-says 

Reggie Littlejohn, president of Women’s Rights Without Frontiers, stated, “The coercive enforcement of the One Child Policy continues unabated, destroying women, children, whole families – and indeed, the fabric of Chinese society.  It constitutes the greatest women’s rights violation on the face of the earth and in the history of the world.  Whether you are pro-life or pro-choice, no one supports forced abortion, because it is not a choice.  The One Child Policy does not need to be ‘eased.’  It needs to be abolished.”

 There has been a tragic rise in murder and suicide associated with the crushing “social compensation fees,” which can cost up to fourteen times a person’s annual salary, an amount the vast majority of Chinese citizens cannot afford.  If the parents are unable to pay these “terror fines,” their children will be denied “hukou,” or household registration.  Without hukou, children are ineligible for healthcare or education.  They become illegal aliens in their own land. “Chinese Mother, fined $54,200 for Flouting One-child Policy, Sues Police. http://www.voanews.com/content/reu-chinese-mother-fined-54200-one-child-policy-sues/1803992.html12/5/13

 Here are some of the reported tragedies caused by the One Child Policy.  Most abuses suffered under the One Child Policy are never reported in the west.

  • In China’s Guangxi Region, a man stabbed to death two government workers after they told him he could not register his fourth child because he did not pay the “social compensation fee.”  He injured four other workers, including severing the hand of one. “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.  (Although this incident happened before August 1, 2013, it happened so close to the deadline that it was not included in our 2013 report, so we have included it here.)
  • Ai Guangdong, a farmer in Hebei Province, killed himself by drinking pesticide during a dispute with family planning officials over fines for his over-quota children.  Since the farmer did not have money to pay the fines, family planning officials confiscated 3.5 tons of corn, the entire savings of the family.  Ai Guangdong then visited the home of the Party Chief to dispute this action.  Finally the farmer drank pesticide at the home of the Party Chief, and promptly died.  “Farmer drinks poison after being fined for violations of family planning policy.” http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/830847.shtml 12/8/13
  • In Guizhou Province, a farmer and father of four committed suicide because he could not afford to pay the fines to enroll his children in school.  His wife stated, “He said to me before he cut his wrists, ‘What did we bring them into the world for, to be as dumb as cattle?  I cannot see my children grow up uneducated.’” After his death, the authorities provided the family with a new house and money to educate the children. “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

These atrocities continue to this day.

The minor modification of the policy that took place on January 1, 2014: 1) does not affect a large percentage of couples in China; 2) retains the dreaded “birth intervals” between children (if a woman gets pregnant before the interval has lapsed, she may be subject to forced abortion); and 3) makes no promise to end the coercive enforcement of the Policy.

To proclaim “victory” under these circumstances is entirely unwarranted and may mislead many into thinking that the One Child Policy is a thing of the past.  Littlejohn stated, “It is a continuing heartache to me when people celebrate minor revisions in the One Child Policy.  I think of all the women and babies suffering and dying now from forced abortions.  It is hard to lead a movement to end forced abortion in China when people think it has already ended. So long as forced abortion and sterilization continue in China we must fight it.  This is a time to increase pressure for change, not to release it.

Sign a petition to end forced abortion here:

http://www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org/index.php?nav=sign_our_petition

 Watch a video about forced abortion in China here:

Stop Forced Abortion – China’s War on Women! Video (4 mins)http://www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org/?nav=stop-forced-abortion

Related links:  “China’s One-Child Policy ‘Reform’ Won’t End Abuses:  US Group.”  http://www.rfa.org/english/news/china/policy-07232014161119.html, 7/23/14

“China Hasn’t ‘Eased’ Its One-Child Policy.” http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/364200/china-hasnt-eased-its-one-child-policy-reggie-littlejohn 11/18/13

“China Not Easing One Child Policy, Says Campaigner.”  http://www.zenit.org/en/articles/china-not-easing-one-child-policy-says-campaigner.   11/22/13

“Little Change in Practice for China’s One Child Family Policy.” http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/nov/24/little-change-in-practice-for-chinas-one-child-fam/?page=all.  11/24/13.

Posted in Chen Guangcheng, China's One Child Policy, Chris Smith, coerced abortion, Forced Abortion, forced sterilization, gendercide, Heritage Foundation, One Child Policy, pro-choice, pro-life, Reggie Littlejohn, Save a Girl, Uncategorized, Women's Rights Without Frontiers | Comments Off on CHINA’S ONE CHILD POLICY CONTINUES TO DESTROY LIVES, DESPITE REPORTS

A Woman on a Mission — Reggie Littlejohn, Founder and President, Women’s Rights without Frontiers

Posted on December 22, 2014 by Reggie Littlejohn

Dear Friend,
People often wonder why I left being a litigation attorney to dedicate my life to the women and babies of China. Here is my personal story and journey of faith. 

This article is republished with permission from Skip Vaccarello.

Littlejohn at a Congressional press conference, with 200,000 signatures on a petition to end gendercide and forced abortion in China. Littlejohn and Cong. Chris Smith attempted to deliver these to the Chinese Embassy on April 24, 2013, but the Chinese Embassy refused to open its doors.

Littlejohn at a Congressional press conference, with 200,000 signatures on a petition to end gendercide and forced abortion in China. Littlejohn and Cong. Chris Smith attempted to deliver these to the Chinese Embassy on April 24, 2013, but the Chinese Embassy refused to open its doors.

Reggie Littlejohn is a woman on a mission.  Her life comprises an amazing journey from atheist to believer, from litigator to international rights advocate, from a person with boundless energy to a bedridden patient for five years – then back again to an energetic world traveler, leader, screenwriter and public speaker.  She views it all as part of God’s plan to give her the passion and skills to shed light on abuses done to women and girls worldwide, especially in China.

From Atheist to Believer

Littlejohn grew up in a Christian home, but at age sixteen announced to her parents that she was an atheist and refused to go to church.  Littlejohn moved from an atheist to an agnostic when she read the Bible for the first time in an ancient literature course in college.

As I read the Gospel of John, I realized just who this person Jesus was and what he did.  I told myself, “This is not what I rejected.”

She married her college sweetheart.  Following her college graduation Littlejohn, enrolled at Yale Law School, while her husband attended Yale Divinity School.  She took a year off from her studies to travel around the world.  On two separate trips, Littlejohn had the opportunity to meet Mother Teresa and volunteer with the Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity in Calcutta.

Every morning I was at Mass, every evening I was at Holy Hour.  Mother Teresa was repeatedly reaching out to me.  Every day I was ministering either to the people who were dying or people in tremendous need.  By the end of this, I totally believed in God.

Following law school, she gave birth to her son, Nico.  She decided to wait a year before taking a job at a law firm in San Francisco, to take care of her newborn.  During that time off, she audited classes at the Yale Divinity School, where her husband was attending.  Littlejohn comments,

It was the first time I ever read the entire New Testament.   The whole message just blew me away.  By the end of that I was a committed Christian.

Lawyer

After law school, Littlejohn and her husband headed off to San Francisco, where Littlejohn took a position as a litigation associate in a major law firm.  She planned to stay at the firm only until her college and law school debt was paid off, but found that she loved her work as a litigator.  She practiced litigation eight years.  During her time as a litigator, she performed pro bono work helping Chinese refugees seeking asylum in the United States.

My first refugee was someone who was persecuted as a Christian and forcibly sterilized.  That opened two whole worlds up to me.  First, I didn’t know that Christians were persecuted in China.  Second, I knew that China had a one-child policy, but I never stopped to think how it was enforced.  I did not realize until I represented this first woman that it is enforced through forced abortion, forced sterilization and infanticide.  I was utterly appalled.

Miscarriage

During her years as a lawyer, Littlejohn got pregnant with her second child.  Sadly, this pregnancy ended in miscarriage.  Littlejohn was heartbroken.  She called her mother and said, “Why would God allow me to get pregnant with a child that would be so loved and so well cared for, and then take that child away?”  Her mother said, “We may never be able to answer that question.  But I believe that somehow, God will use this pain for a purpose.”  Littlejohn believes the pain of that miscarriage, and a second one, are what sensitized her to the suffering of women losing babies against their will.

Of course I have never suffered the violence of a forced abortion.  But I do know what it’s like to lose two babies that I wanted.  I believe that, because of the painful loss of my own babies through miscarriage, when I heard that women are being forcibly aborted in China, my response was visceral.  I just couldn’t look the other way.

Struck Down by Mastectomies and Infection

In 2003, Littlejohn developed multiple breast lumps. Because of her strong family history of breast cancer, she had bilateral mastectomies with implant reconstruction.  Unfortunately, during the surgery she contracted an MRSA staph infection, which is often deadly.  She left the practice of law on a medical leave of absence and was disabled for five years.  During that 5-year period, Littlejohn had to undergo several surgeries and developed chronic fatigue syndrome as well.  Her time as a patient, however, became a spiritual awakening.

I cast myself on the Lord and He gave me this hunger for His Word.  I read the Bible over and over.  The Bible says, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”  I felt that the Lord was renewing my mind.  Then I felt called to begin praying for those worse off than I was.  I began to pray for Christians who were being tortured for their faith, and women who were being forcibly aborted. It became my sole focus and consuming passion to do something about this abuse.

Her Life Mission Changed

My mission went from making lots of money as an attorney to helping women and babies devastated by forced abortion and female gendercide in China due to China’s One-Child Policy.

Littlejohn recounts the unintended consequences of China’s One -Child Policy – forced abortion, forced sterilization, death from botched procedures, and the situation where there are 37 million more men than women living in China, which in turn results in human trafficking, sexual slavery, and a high rate of female suicide.

Screenplay

During her period of convalescence, Littlejohn prayed for guidance on what God would have her do specifically with her passion and new mission.  God gave her the direction, “to write a screenplay.”  Since she had had no previous experience or aspiration in this regard, she was astonished by this persistent direction and looked for confirmation.  She recalls, “God’s voice would not go away – ‘write a screenplay’, ‘write a screenplay’ is what I kept hearing.”

Confirmation also came from her friends, who encouraged her to write the screenplay and started praying for her.  Littlejohn came to realize that a film would be the most powerful way to communicate the devastation caused by China’s One-Child-Policy, and to move hearts and minds to end it.  She wrote “Pearls of China,” a feature-length drama.  The script has won numerous awards, including first place in the “Adventure and Action” category.  She has taken the project through development and is currently raising production funds for the film.

Women’s Rights Without Frontiers

By the end of 2008, Littlejohn had begun to emerge from her disease, or her “five dark years,” as she calls her period of disability.  With renewed energy, she founded the non-profit organization, Women’s Rights without Frontiers (WRWF), which has been called the leading voice to expose and oppose forced abortion, gendercide, and sexual slavery in China.  In addition, the organization is directly saving the lives of girls at risk of sex-selective abortion through its “Save a Girl” Campaign.

Littlejohn testifies on behalf of blind activist Chen Guangcheng at an emergency hearing of the Congressional Executive Commission on China, May 3, 2012. Photo credit: The Epoch Times

Littlejohn testifies on behalf of blind activist Chen Guangcheng at an emergency hearing of the Congressional Executive Commission on China, May 3, 2012. Photo credit: The Epoch Times

As the WRWF leader, Littlejohn has had the opportunity to speak many times on the Voice of America, the U.S. official broadcast into China, Taiwan and Hong Kong.  She spoke before the European Parliament, the British and Irish Parliaments,and at universities, including Harvard and Stanford law schools.  She has briefed officials at the White House, the U.S. State Department and the Vatican.  In addition, she has testified six times before the U.S. Congress.

Littlejohn meets Pope Francis at the Vatican on September 20, 2013

Littlejohn meets Pope Francis at the Vatican on September 20, 2013

She has had many television and radio appearances, including on CNN, C-Span and Voice of America.  In January, 2013, Littlejohn was given the National Pro-Life Recognition Award at the 40th Annual March for Life.  In May, 2013, she addressed 25,000 people in Ottawa, as the keynote speaker of Canada’s march against gendercide.  In June, 2013 Littlejohn was the keynote speaker at the National Right to Life Convention in Dallas.  In September, 2013 she met Pope Francis in Rome.  In November, 2013, she traveled to Hong Kong as the featured speaker of the screening of “It’s a Girl” at the Amnesty International Film Festival.

Littlejohn with blind activist Chen Guangcheng in Washington, DC in January, 2013.

Littlejohn with blind activist Chen Guangcheng in Washington, DC in January, 2013.

From 2009 to 2012, Littlejohn led the successful, international effort to free blind activist Chen Guangcheng.  In 2013, Littlejohn successfully led the effort to bring the daughters of prominent dissident Zhang Lin to the United States.  She and her husband are now raising ten-year-old Zhang Anni in their home, as their own.

Littlejohn greets Anni and Ruli Zhang at the San Francisco Airport on September 7, 2013.

Littlejohn greets Anni and Ruli Zhang at the San Francisco Airport on September 7, 2013.

God’s Plan

Looking back on her life, Littlejohn clearly sees God’s hand in giving her the skills, experience, and passion to pursue her mission.

I see it all as part of God’s plan for me – Mother Teresa, my illness, the opportunity to represent Chinese refugees as a lawyer, and even my miscarriage.  If I had not lost my own baby in miscarriage, I might not have developed the passion to help women who were victims of forced abortion.

The scripture that most inspires Littlejohn in her work is Proverbs 24:11-12.

Rescue those being led away to death;

Hold back those staggering toward slaughter.

If you say, “But we knew nothing about this,”

Does not He who weighs the heart perceive it?

Does not He who guards your life know it?

Will He not repay each person according to what he has done?

 

Posted in bible, Breast Cancer, Catholic, Chen Guangcheng, China's One Child Policy, Christian, coerced abortion, European Parliament, Human Rights, It's a Girl, mastectomy, miscarriage, Mother Teresa, MRSA staph, One Child Policy, Pope Francis, prayer, Reggie Littlejohn, reproductive health, reproductive rights, Uncategorized, Vatican, war on women, women's rights, Women's Rights Without Frontiers, Zhang Anni, Zhang Lin, Zhang Ruli | Comments Off on A Woman on a Mission — Reggie Littlejohn, Founder and President, Women’s Rights without Frontiers

International Human Rights Day — Zhang Lin’s Daughters Granted Asylum while Father Languishes in Prison

Posted on December 10, 2014 by Reggie Littlejohn
Anni and Lily Zhang, safely in San Francisco with Reggie Littlejohn and her husband, Robert

Anni and Lily Zhang, with American parents Reggie Littlejohn and husband Robert

On International Human Rights Day, Women’s Rights Without Frontiers is delighted to announce that Anni and Ruli Zhang have been granted political asylum in the United States.  Detained overnight as a 10-year-old, Anni is known as “China’s youngest prisoner of conscience.”  She and her older sister, Ruli, are the daughters of veteran activist Zhang Lin, who is currently serving a three-and-a-half year jail sentence for standing up for Anni’s right to go to school.  With the help of brave activists in China and the U.S., WRWF President Reggie Littlejohn was able to secure safe passage to the U.S. for the girls. She and her husband Robert have taken the girls into their home and are raising them as their own daughters.  Littlejohn issued the following statement:

Reggie and Anni

Anni Zhang with Reggie Littlejohn

 “We are absolutely thrilled that Anni and Ruli have been granted asylum and can remain indefinitely in the United States.  We are very grateful to Attorney Jessica Kim, whose outstanding legal representation played a huge role in obtaining this excellent result.  We are also grateful to Congressman Chris Smith and blind activist Chen Guangcheng for the letters they wrote on behalf of the girls’ asylum case.

 “Rob and I enjoy being the American parents of Anni and Ruli, and we are very proud of them.  Both girls have made an astonishing transition to life in the United States.  At home, we have them on a program of learning 50 English words a day. This may seem like a lot, but they are extremely smart and have been keeping pace without a problem. 

 “Anni has gone from knowing no English at all when she arrived in the U.S. to being an Honor Student in just one year!  Like her father, she is especially strong in math and science.  She has gone from just beginning piano to being almost ready to compete in piano as well.  She learned to ride a bike in two days.

Ruli and Reggie at home

Ruli Zhang with Reggie Littlejohn

 “Ruli has gone from knowing almost no English to passing the GED High School Equivalency test in English.  She has a job, is learning to drive, and plans to go to college when her English is strong enough.

 “It is a great honor to be able to help a hero like Zhang Lin by caring for his daughters.  He has given up everything for freedom and democracy in China, and is now on his fourth jail sentence.  It is a travesty that he is in jail simply for standing up for his daughter’s right to go to school.

Zhang Lin and Anni, taken before Zhang Lin's arrest on July 18, 2013. Photo credit: Hu Jia

Zhang Lin with his daughter Anni. Photo credit: Hu Jia

“According to their Open Letter, Anni and Ruli are delighted with their new lives in the United States, but they are justifiably concerned about their father.  First of all, they are outraged by the injustice done him, as he has done nothing wrong.  In addition, their father has been moved from a jail in his home town, where his elderly parents could visit him, to a city several hours away, where his parents will not be able to visit often.  If family members do not bring money to the jail for food, he will be fed only a thin, rice gruel with an ounce of salty vegetable.  WRWF is sending money to Zhang Lin’s parents on his behalf, but if his parents cannot visit him, we have no means of getting the money to the jail to ensure that he can eat properly.  His health is delicate, and we are worried that if he has to subsist on gruel, his health will break down.

 “We thank Cong. Chris Smith for the critical role he played in bringing Anni and Ruli to the U.S.  We will always remember Jing Zhang of Women’s Rights in China for connecting me with the Zhang daughters and helping get them out of China.  We also thank Chinese activist Hu Jia, as well as the three activists who remain wrongfully jailed for helping Anni: Yao Cheng, Zhou Weilin, Li Huaping.  Women’s Rights Without Frontiers demands their immediate, unconditional release.”

 For the Open Letter of Anni and Ruli Zhang (in Mandarin):

我们在近期终于通过了政治庇护的申请！

http://www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org/blog/?p=1888

 For background on Zhang Lin and his daughters:

WRWF Condemns 3.5 Year Jail Sentence of Pro-Democracy Activist; Zhang Lin to Appeal 9/22/14

http://www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org/blog/?p=1794

Posted in Chen Guangcheng, Chris Smith, Reggie Littlejohn, Uncategorized, Women's Rights Without Frontiers, Zhang Anni, Zhang Lin, Zhang Ruli | Comments Off on International Human Rights Day — Zhang Lin’s Daughters Granted Asylum while Father Languishes in Prison

我们在近期终于通过了政治庇护的申请！

Posted on December 10, 2014 by Reggie Littlejohn

你们好！

我们是中国人权捍卫者、著名民主异议人士、中国在押政治犯张林之女张儒莉和张安妮。在这里首先告诉大家一个好消息：我们在近期终于通过了政治庇护的申请！感谢美国政府和各界人士的帮助，尤其是瑞杰女士（Reggie Littlejohn ,  Attorney Jessica Kim 和陈光诚 。这一年来，我们住在瑞杰女士的家中并收获了很多。安妮从去年刚来时完全不懂英文，到现在成为成绩全A的六年级学生。同时她还学会了游泳和钢琴，并多次在教堂演奏钢琴。儒莉也在瑞杰和罗伯特的帮助拿到了美国高中普通教育发展证书。并且申请到了社会安全号。现在也找到了一份工作，并在学习开车。一切的一切进行的如此顺利！

但是，我们的父亲张林，仍在狱中受苦受难。审判结果下来后，他被转送到安徽省铜陵市北京东路一号铜陵监狱。原来在蚌埠时，爷爷奶奶还可以一个月去送一次钱给他。现在被送到铜陵，大大加大了爷爷奶奶去看望他的难度。而且在中国监狱，如果你监狱帐号没有钱的话，你能吃的只有稀饭和咸菜。瑞杰听说了这件事后很是担心，决定她的组织女权无疆界每个月寄给爸爸一百美金。原本是奶奶把这个钱带给爸爸，可现在监狱那么远，爷奶身体又不好，看望和送钱给他成了很大的问题。可是被判了三年六个月的他，到底做错了什么？

去年2月，父亲张林带着妹妹张安妮从家乡安徽蚌埠转学到合肥。但因父亲是民主异议人士，小安妮就被合肥市国保绑架拘留了24小时，并从此不让返回合肥的学校上学。小安妮至此失学了，终日在家郁郁寡欢不肯见人。试想10岁女儿无辜受牵连遭迫害，哪一个做父亲的不会为女儿伸张正义讨回公道？何况是一位勇敢无畏的父亲！事后父亲只想为女儿讨回一个公道，在网上发布信息后，得到各地网友声援。去年4月，各地网友自发集聚合肥为父亲和安妮讨回公道希望安妮能重返校园。可事与愿违，不仅没有讨回公道，反而自发帮助父亲的朋友们受到不同等级的拘留作为惩罚，而父亲和安妮此后也受到来自蚌埠国保24小时的监控。

2013年7月18日晚，父亲张林以涉嫌聚众扰乱公共场所秩序被捕，12月18日开庭审理却并未给结果。在这之间，省高院批准一次延期，最高法院批准两次延期。8月29日，法院突然通知将在9月5日开庭给结果。通知突然，以至于张林两位律师刘晓原律师和李方平律师都无法到场，只有步履蹒跚的爷爷奶奶相互搀扶出席。审判结果下来后，张林当场提出上诉。可不久后法院在没有通知任何家人、律师的情况下，直接开庭通知驳回上诉维持原判。张林现任律师王宇律师直呼这是违犯行为。

在此之前，父亲张林因坚持走民主道路，已坐牢四次共计十三年。因长期坐牢和早年狱中遭受虐待，身体落下很多疾病并无法治愈。因坚持民主道路，他几近奉献一身，可换来的是自己仍然深陷囹圄和子女背井离乡。现在，我们非常担心他的身体已经承受不住监狱的折磨。试问这次他究竟做错了什么？是把日夜受迫害的实情公之于众有错？还是因女儿被警察绑架拘留而发声有错？还是为女儿争取公平上学的权利有错？在我看来，就是因为中共的专政腐败被揭开而打击报复像父亲张林一类的正义之士！

所以在此我们呼吁，希望得到你们的关注，因为你们的关注可以换的我们父亲的自由！于此同时，我们还要为因合肥事件依然被关在狱中的姚诚，周维林与李化平叔叔呼吁。今年7月30日，李化平叔叔案件在芜湖开庭审理，但至今未给结果；姚诚设周维林叔叔的案件也终于在今年8月6日开庭审理，并未给出结果。他们用他们的正义之心，勇敢得站出来为自由而呐喊的精神感染着我们，我们不能忘记他们以及国内其他很多正在受迫害的政治犯，因为他们正牺牲自己的自由换取更多人的自由！希望父亲和叔叔们能尽快获释出狱，期待奥巴马总统及各国领导能更多关注中国的人权状况，希冀中国的人权状况能实际有所改善，期待中国早日能行民主宪政之路！

最后，两位思念父亲的女儿，为我们的父亲和叔叔们，再次向你们大声呼吁：关注他们吧！因为你们的关注可以使得他们换得自由！

中国大陆人权捍卫者、在押政治犯张林之女：张儒莉、张安妮

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