China: Five Month Pregnant Woman Still in Danger of Forced Abortion

Posted on June 11, 2012 by Reggie Littlejohn

Changsha, Hunan Province, China.  On the night of June 6, 2012, Women’s Rights Without Frontiers received an emergency email about a Chinese woman in danger of forced abortion.

At least a dozen family planning officials broke into the home of Cao Ruyi, five months pregnant with her second child, and dragged her to the hospital for a forced abortion.  Her husband, Li Fu, was beaten on the way to the hospital and told that if he and his wife did not consent to a “voluntary” abortion, his wife would be forced to abort.  Over the weekend, the hospital released Cao Ruyi upon payment of a fine of US $1500 “social compensation fee.”   Family Planning Officials still demand an additional payment of US $25,000 for her to continue her pregnancy.

Women’s Rights Without Frontiers president Reggie Littlejohn stated,  “The plight of Mrs. Cao and her husband vividly demonstrates the brutality of China’s One Child Policy.  The Chinese Communist Party has reported 13 million abortions a year.  How many millions of Chinese women will be forced to abort their babies this year?  We strongly condemn forced abortion and urge the international community to take a stand against this heinous crime against humanity.”

Littlejohn continued, “The suffering of this couple reveals several truths about the One Child Policy.  Despite official denials, China still enforces its One Child Policy through late term forced abortion.  These forced abortions occur in major cities, such as Changsha, not just in the countryside.  Also, officials will beat and detain ‘illegally pregnant’ couples to extract consent to a “voluntary” abortion.  Finally we see the enormity of the fines, which can reach ten times a person’s annual salary.  These fines are impossible for most couples to pay.  They then may become victims of forced abortion.”

Congressman Chris Smith issued a statement urging that Cao Ruyi be allowed to continue her pregnancy.  Bob Fu, president of China Aid, communicated with the couple over the weekend.

“WRWF is relieved that Mrs. Cao was released from the hospital.  But if the couple is unable to pay this heavy additional fine, what will happen to them?  Unless international pressure is applied, Mrs. Cao will likely be forcibly aborted.  They are not out of danger.”

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

Posted in abortion, China's One Child Policy, Chris Smith, coerced abortion, Forced Abortion, Human Rights, One Child Policy, pro-choice, pro-life, Reggie Littlejohn, reproductive rights, right to choose, Women's Rights Without Frontiers | Comments Off on China: Five Month Pregnant Woman Still in Danger of Forced Abortion

Reggie Littlejohn Receives “Spirit of Tiananmen” Award, Honors Chen Guangcheng

Posted on May 29, 2012 by Reggie Littlejohn


Reggie Littlejohn stands with friends from China Aid's Los Angeles office, after receiving the "Spirit of Tiananmen" award.


Reggie Littlejohn spoke at the Commemoration of the 23rd Anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre, hosted by the Visual Artists Guild of Los Angeles.  Speaking in honor of Chen Guangcheng, she then found to her surprise that she was the recipient of the coveted “Spirit of Tiananmen” Award.  Here are her remarks:

I am greatly humbled to speak to you in honor of one of the greatest and most noble heroes of our time – one of the human rights giants of the twenty-first century, the Gandhi of China — activist Chen Guangcheng.  Blinded by a childhood illness, Chen taught himself law and at first advocated for the rights of the disabled.  The Chinese Communist Party ignored him until he began to advocate for the rights of women who were victims of the massive, systematic use of forced abortion and sterilization in his city – Linyi.  Chen bravely filed a class action lawsuit on their behalf, and that’s when all hell broke loose for him and his family.  It is fitting that we should honor him on the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre.  The same brutal regime that massacred students on Tiananmen Square also has brutalized Chen and his family for seven years.  Here is our  video, Free Chen Guangcheng!

http://www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org/?nav=free-chen-guangcheng

Chen miraculously escaped from illegal house detention.  Chen has no religious affiliation, yet he said, “God rescued me.”  I have been advocating for Chen’s release since 2008 – five times in the U.S. Congress, twice at the European Parliament, and at the British and Irish Parliaments as well.  I have also briefed the White House, State Department and Vatican about Chen and One Child Policy issues.

Women’s Rights Without Frontiers has been leading the international coalition to free Chen.

We released the Chen Guangcheng Report in Chinese on Chen’s 40th birthday, and in English at a Congressional Hearing on December 6, 2011.

http://www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org/index.php?nav=chen-report

We collected more than 11,000 signatures on our Free Chen petition. http://www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org/index.php?nav=chen-guangcheng#pet

We also have 500 Free Chen Sunglasses Portraits from all over the world.http://www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org/index.php?nav=chen-sunglasses

We sent two big packages of Christmas cards to Chen in December 2011.

When I flew to New York City one week ago today to welcome Chen to the United States, it was one of the most exciting moments of my life.

While Chen is free, his family and friends are not.  For example:

  • His nephew, Chen Kegui, is detained and has been accused of attempted murder.
  • His brother, Chen Guangfu, was detained and tortured.  He now seeks justice for his son, Chen Kegui.
  • Lawyer Jian Tianyong has been repeatedly beaten and detained because of his support of Chen.

China’s One Child Policy

Lost in the drama of Chen’s escape is the issue for which he risked everything:  the abuse of women and families under China’s One Child Policy.

Stop Forced Abortion – China’s War on Women! Video (4 mins)

http://www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org/?nav=stop-forced-abortion

Stop Forced Abortion – China’s War on Women!  Chinese Video (4 mins)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chMrStGhJk

Affecting 1.3 billion people, the coercive enforcement of 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.

  1. Forced abortion is traumatic to women.   This can happen up to the ninth month of pregnancy.  Some forced abortions are so violent that the women themselves die, along with their full term babies.
  2. Women who have violated the policy are often victims of forced sterilization, which can lead to life-long health complications.  These forced abortions and forced sterilizations are often performed without anesthesia.
  3. A document leaked out of China in November 2009 discusses methods of infanticide, including the puncturing of the skulls and injecting alcohol into the brains of full term babies, usually girls, to kill them during labor.
  4. Because of the traditional preference for boys, sex-selective abortion of girls is common — a form of “gendercide.” Women’s Rights Without Frontiers will be featured as the leading expert in a new feature-length documentary entitled “It’s a Girl,” about gendercide in India and China.
  5. Because of this gendercide, there are an estimated 37 million more men than women in China today.   This gender imbalance is a major force driving sexual slavery of women and girls in Asia.
  6. China has the highest female suicide rate of any country in the world – approximately 500 women a day.  I believe this high suicide rate is related to forced abortion.

The true spirit of the Chinese Communist Party is most clearly seen in the faces of the population control police as they drag women away, beat them, strap them down to tables, and force them to abort babies that they want, up to the ninth month of pregnancy.  Blind, beaten, impoverished and imprisoned, Chen nevertheless possesses the insurmountable courage to stand alone against this repressive regime.  He and his wife, Yuan Weijing, are true warriors for women’s rights, willing to shed their own blood for the women and families of China.  When the One Child Policy ends, the name of Chen Guangcheng shall be forever credited with that great and hard-fought victory for women’s rights and freedom.

Posted in Chen Guangcheng, China's One Child Policy, One Child Policy, Reggie Littlejohn, Uncategorized | Comments Off on Reggie Littlejohn Receives “Spirit of Tiananmen” Award, Honors Chen Guangcheng

Reggie Littlejohn to Testify Concerning Chen Guangcheng, He Peirong (Pearl) and Jiang Tianyong Today

Posted on May 15, 2012 by Reggie Littlejohn

He Peirong and Jiang Tianyong –

Chinese Communist Repression

Against the Supporters of Chen Guangcheng

Testimony of Reggie Littlejohn, President

Women’s Rights Without Frontiers

May 15, 2012

House Committee on Foreign Affairs,

Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health,

and Human Rights

Honorable members of the Sub-Committee, ladies and gentlemen, I am grateful for this opportunity to testify here today, during a sensitive time in engaging the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to free Chen Guangcheng and his family.

I have been asked to brief the Sub-Committee on the treatment of two prominent activists who are supporters of Chen: He Peirong, also known as Pearl, who was instrumental in Chen’s escape, and Jiang Tianyong, a key member of Chen’s legal team.

He Peirong (Pearl)

He Peirong, also known as Pearl, has played a key role in organizing support for Chen within China.  When I testified about her on May 3, she had been detained for almost a week and I was very concerned that she might be tortured to learn the names of others in her network.  The very day after the hearing, at which her case was strongly raised by Rep. Chris Smith, Pearl was released and was interviewed by the BBC.

Some say that quiet, back door diplomacy is the way to deal with the detention of Chinese human rights defenders.  But we have found that high profile visibility is far more effective.

Pearl herself seems to have endorsed this approach in her BBC interview.   According to this interview, she was confined to a hotel room.  The police were “polite,” but persistent in their effort to obtain information, which Pearl did not divulge.  About her own safety, she said, “I was very concerned, but once the thing went public, I was no longer worried.”[1]

I skyped with Pearl the day after her release, and again on this past Saturday.  Pearl is grateful that she was treated so well in detention in Nanjing.  This has not always been the case.   I understand from a reliable source that she has encountered violence three times in Shandong:

  • On Jan 10th, 2011, She drove to Chen’s village, where pain clothes guards smashed her car outside of  Chen’s house.
  • On May 30 2011, she went to Yinan county for Chen’s case and plainclothes guards kidnapped, robbed and beat her. They struck her face 30 to 40 times. She was subjected to a painful position for four hours while being driven in a car, and she was dumped on a road by thugs.
  • On June 6 2011, she went to Yinan county for Chen’s case again. In the local official’s office she was kidnapped and robbed again. The pain clothes guards drove her for over four hours and dumped her in the middle of wheat field in Jiangsu. Two men kicked her into a field.  They tried to stuff her socks into her mouth, tied her up in the field and touched her breast twice.  A video at a highway toll station showed that the police in Yinan County were involved.

Despite the violence she has suffered, Pearl wants to remain in China for the protection of her friends.  Pearl has asked me to make this statement for her at this hearing:

“I would like to thank everyone who fights for our freedom:  activists, Congressmen and Congresswomen, as well as the U.S. Government, the State Department, Secretary Clinton, and the United States. I hope I will visit this great country one day, but now I just want to stay with my friends in China.  What I want is for all my friends to be safe.”

Jiang Tianyong

Jiang Tianyong has taken up several sensitive legal matters and has long been a member of Chen’s legal team.  For this, he has suffered violence on several occasions.

Most recently, according to media reports, Jiang Tianyong tried to visit Chen Guangcheng in the hospital, and for this he was beaten so severely in the head that he may have lost hearing in one ear.  He and his family have also been monitored.  Even after this beating, he bravely spoke out for Chen Kegui, Chen Guangcheng’s nephew, who has been accused of intent to murder – even though he was acting in self defense and no one died.  Jiang stated, “the charge of ‘homicide with intent’ had been trumped up and that it should actually be ‘wounding with intent.’”[2]

I understand that Jiang has reached an agreement with officials that he will not try to visit Chen again, he will not meet with foreign media, and he will leave Beijing.  He has now received medical treatment and is no longer being monitored.

This is not the first time that Jiang has suffered violence for his legal bravery.  On November 10, 2009, Jiang Tianyong and I were fellow presenters, sitting at the same table, testifying before Congress on China’s brutal One Child Policy.  Though our testimony was similar, the difference between us was profound.  As an American, I could go home to my family and enjoy safety and peace.  When Jiang left the hearing, he said to his fellow presenters, “I’m worried.  If anything happens to me, please look after my wife and child.”  I stood in awe of his courage – risking not only his own safety, but also the safety of those he loves most, to reveal the truth about the suffering of women and girls in China.

A few days after returning to China, as Jiang was leaving his apartment to take his young daughter to school, his fears materialized.  According to reports, four cadres grabbed him and dragged him off to detention.  Then they beat his wife.  All this happened right in front of their seven-year-old daughter, as she screamed helplessly.

Despite this violence, Jiang has persisted in his bravery. In February 2011, Chen Guangcheng and his wife, Yuan Weijing, secretly recorded a video describing the harsh conditions of their house arrest.  Following the video’s release, they were beaten senseless and were denied medical treatment.   Chen’s legal team tried to gather to discuss ways to assist him but several were placed under house arrest, preventing them from attending this meeting.  Lawyers who did attend the meeting, including Jiang Tianyong and Teng Biao, were later beaten and disappeared for two months or more.  According to a media report, Jiang endured beatings, shouts, shackles, blindfolds, no sunlight. He said he was banged on the head so severely — typically with plastic bottles filled with water — that his memory began to slip. He couldn’t remember his Skype password or how the furniture was arranged in his bedroom back home.[3]

Although Pearl and Jiang appear safe for the moment, who knows whether the Chinese Communist Party will retaliate against them once Chen comes to the United States.  Women’s Rights Without Frontiers calls upon the United States Congress and the Department of State to raise the issue of the safety of Chen’s supporters, who are heroes in their own right.

[1] “He Peirong Describes Chen’s Escape,” BBC 5/4/12   http://audioboo.fm/boos/785812-he-peirong-describes-chen escape?utm_campaign=detailpage&utm_content=retweet&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter

[2] Lawyers for Chen Kegui Face Threats, Taipei Times, 5/12/12 http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2012/05/12/2003532645/1

[3] In the Chen Case, Collateral Damage, International Herald Tribune Rendevous, New York Times Blog, 5/7/12 http://rendezvous.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/05/07/in-the-chen-case-collateral-damage/

Posted in Chen Guangcheng, He Peirong, Jiang Tianyong, Uncategorized | Comments Off on Reggie Littlejohn to Testify Concerning Chen Guangcheng, He Peirong (Pearl) and Jiang Tianyong Today

Chen Guangcheng Calls Voice of America During Reggie Littlejohn Interview

Posted on May 15, 2012 by Reggie Littlejohn

Chen Guangcheng called while I was being interviewed on Voice of America today!  I didn’t think he even knew who I was, but he thanked me personally, saying “I would like to thank you for your attention and all the things you have done for such a long time . . . I want to thank all the people who have helped me.  Through their help, I can see that this world is a good one.”  Chen also said that he is feeling better physically, but that there has been no progress in applying for travel documents from the Chinese government.  In addition, he is extremely concerned about his nephew, Chen Kegui, who was beaten for hours with logs and who was still bleeding three hours after the beating ended. Chen Kegui has been charged with intent to murder, even though no one died when Kegui defended himself with knives as cadres violently entered his home and beat his father.

Chen’s call begins at 5:00 and ends at 13:30 on the link below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PLttvMIC9I&list=PL7152AD1F37F23F68&index=2&feature=plpp_video

Posted in Chen Guangcheng, Uncategorized, Voice of America | Comments Off on Chen Guangcheng Calls Voice of America During Reggie Littlejohn Interview

Chen Guangcheng’s Rescuer Released from Detention

Posted on May 4, 2012 by Reggie Littlejohn

Rep. Chris Smith, Reggie Littlejohn and Wang Xuezhen surround a photo of Pearl /He Peirong after the Congressional hearing of May 3

He Peirong, known as Pearl, has been released from detention and has been interviewed by the BBC.  Pearl has become known as the rescuer of blind activist Chen Guangcheng, having driven the car that brought him from Dongshigu village to Beijing.

Reggie Littlejohn, President of Women’s Rights Without Frontiers, has been advocting for Pearl’s release.  Littlejohn testified about Pearl at a hearing before the Congressional-Executive Commission on China yesterday, and Rep. Chris Smith took up Pearl’s cause.  Littlejohn stated, “I am relieved and delighted that Pearl has been released – the day after the Congressional hearing at which her case was so strongly raised.  Some say that quiet, back door diplomacy is the way to deal with the detention of Chinese human rights defenders.  But human rights activists have found that high profile, public pressure is far more effective.”

Pearl herself seems to have endorsed this approach in the BBC interview earlier today.   According to this interview, she was confined to a hotel room.  The police were “polite,” but persistent in their effort to obtain information, which Pearl did not divulge.  About her own safety, she said, “I was very concerned, but once the thing went public, I was no longer worried.”  http://audioboo.fm/boos/785812-he-peirong-describes-chen-escape?utm_campaign=detailpage&utm_content=retweet&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter

Testifying with Littlejohn was Wang Xuezhen, who said that she was one of the netizens who tried to visit Chen.  She was beaten and strip searched, but said that others were treated far more brutally than she.

Posted in Chen Guangcheng, He Peirong, Uncategorized | Comments Off on Chen Guangcheng’s Rescuer Released from Detention

Chen Guangcheng to President Obama: “Get Our Whole Family Out.”

Posted on May 3, 2012 by Reggie Littlejohn

The United States should immediately grant asylum to Chen Guangcheng and his family, along with the activist who rescued him, He Peirong.  Chen and his wife have both stated that they are in danger.

U.S. officials contend that Chen left the U.S. Embassy yesterday of his own volition to seek medical treatment at a hospital.  From the hospital, however, Chen told friends and the media that he was not given full information on which to base his decision.  He told Associated Press, moreover, that a U.S. official relayed a threat that if Chen did not leave the Embassy, he wife would be beaten to death.  He told CNN, “I am very disappointed at the U.S. government.”

Chen also told CNN that after he escaped, his wife was tied to a chair in their home for two days.  Guards carried sticks into their home and threatened to beat her to death.  They also moved into their house, eating at their table and using their belongings.  They have installed seven surveillance cameras inside their home.  These facts convinced Chen that it would not be safe for him or his family to remain in China.  He did not learn these facts until he was reunited with his wife in the hospital.

Chen then told CNN, “I would like to say to (President Obama):  Please do everything you can to get our whole family out.”  He told the Daily Beast, “My fervent hope is that it would be possible for me and my family to leave for the U.S. on Hillary Clinton’s plane.”

After Chen’s miraculous, “mission impossible” escape and the risks he and others took to deliver him safely to the U.S. Embassy, why did the U.S. officials press him to leave and hand this noble man back into the hands of those who have been so fiercely persecuting him and his family?

If so, this action is beyond shameful. Not only have we let Chen down, but we have betrayed those in China that we should most want to support:  those who share our values.

Many in China have regarded the U.S. Embassy as the lone island of freedom and justice in a land filled with repression and injustice.  Given their trust, how could the U.S. hand over a deserving citizen who had fled there for protection?

Chen is hugely symbolic in China, the conscience of the nation.  By challenging the One Child Policy, he has challenged the lynchpin of social control in China. This explains the ferocity of the Chinese Communist Party’s reaction to him.

When Chen Guangcheng fled to the U.S. Embassy, the U.S. had a golden opportunity to do the right thing – give him and his family asylum and bring them to safety in the U.S.  This would have erased a generation of anti-American propaganda and inspired gratitude, admiration and trust among the Chinese people.  Instead the U.S. expediently dispatched Chen out the door, shattering our moral credibility before the world and losing the hearts and minds of a generation of Chinese people who share our values.

The only way to redeem the situation is as clear as it is urgent:  give asylum to Chen and his family – and to He Peirong as well.  Bring them to safety in the United States, whatever it takes, on Hillary Clinton’s plane.

Posted in Chen Guangcheng, He Peirong, Hillary Clinton, One Child Policy, President Obama, Uncategorized | Comments Off on Chen Guangcheng to President Obama: “Get Our Whole Family Out.”

Chen Guangcheng’s Rescuer Needs to be Rescued: He Peirong

Posted on May 2, 2012 by Reggie Littlejohn

He Peirong is a petite woman with a spine of steel.  I know her because she spearheaded the movement to free Chen Guangcheng inside China, while I have played a similar role in the U.S. and Europe.  That’s where the similarity ends.  I have advocated for Chen in complete safety.  Peirong, however, has been beaten and detained repeatedly for this extremely dangerous undertaking.  Now, she is detained again, for rescuing Chen.

How did Chen escape?  The Chinese Communist Party clamped down on him as hard as it could.  His house was surrounded by 66 guards working in three shifts – 22 guards every eight hours.  His village was sealed off by yet more guards.  His phone, computer and television were confiscated.  He was completely shut off from the outside world.  Plus he was sick and injured from all the beatings.

According to Peirong, Chen spent months on his back, pretending to be near death, so that his guards would relax their vigilance.  Then on April 22, with exquisite timing, he scaled a wall and ran for his life, taking several wrong turns and falling into a river because of his blindness.  Peirong drove 20 hours to meet Chen and fooled the village guards into letting her in.  She disguised herself as a courier.  Then she drove Chen another eight hours – still wet from his fall in the river – to safety in Beijing.  Their plan was so masterfully executed that the authorities did not realize Chen was gone for four days.

Once authorities discovered that Chen was missing, the reprisals began.  The Chinese Communist Party violently detained Chen’s older brother and nephew, and his wife, children and mother are at risk as well.

As news of Chen’s escape was breaking, I skyped with Peirong on and off all Thursday night from Dublin, where I had testified about Chen at the Irish Parliament.  Peirong was alone and worried – about Chen and his family, and about her own safety.  Peirong knew that the price of securing Chen’s freedom might be her own.

At about 5:00 a.m. Dublin time, I skyped Peirong one last time and she did not answer. She had been detained, and no one has heard from her since.   We don’t know if Peirong is being tortured or whether her detention will last days, months or years.

In pressing for Chen’s freedom, let us also press for the freedom of his rescuer, He Peirong, a hero in her own right.   She stood up for Chen during his time of greatest need.  The least we can do is stand by her as she pays a terrible price for her courage.

Posted in Chen Guangcheng, He Peirong | 1 Comment

Chen Guangcheng: An Open Letter to President Obama, Secretary of State Clinton and Ambassador Locke:

Posted on May 1, 2012 by Reggie Littlejohn

Dear President Obama, Secretary Clinton and Ambassador Locke:

We call for official United States protection of blind activist Chen Guangcheng, who dramatically escaped house detention and is now said to be at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing.  As of the writing of this letter, U.S. officials have not promised diplomatic protection for Chen or his family.

As Secretary Clinton meets with key leaders in Beijing this week, the moral credibility of the United States on the world stage hangs in the balance.  Chen Guangcheng is the Gandhi of our time.  He is a man of inconceivable bravery.  Poor, blind, beaten and detained, he nevertheless possesses the surpassing backbone to stand alone against the crushing brutality of the communist regime.  He is the “Tank Man” against the One Child Policy.  He has done this on behalf of the women of China, who for thirty-two years have suffered the unspeakable torture of forced abortion and involuntary sterilization at the hands of the barbarous Chinese population control machine.  Chen Guangcheng is a warrior for women’s rights.

At great risk to himself, his family and a wide network of brave supporters, Chen has been delivered safely into our Embassy.  Meanwhile, members of his family and key supporters have been beaten or detained.

The entire world is watching.  Will you offer official protection to Chen, his family, and his key supporters who are now detained? Or will you continue to kowtow to the Chinese Communist Party for our economic advantage?  Inescapably, the choice you make will symbolize the character of our nation to the world.

Women’s Rights Without Frontiers calls upon you to use all diplomatic means to ensure safety for Chen Guangcheng, his family, and his key supporters who are currently detained, especially He Peirong, who rescued Chen and is a hero in her own right.

We also ask that you press for Chen’s requests that those who have been torturing and persecuting his family be brought to justice, and that corrupt officials who have received money for persecuting Chen be investigated and punished.

The American people – and the people of the world – cry out for freedom for Chen Guangcheng.  If you deliver him back into the hands of the Chinese Communist Party, he will no doubt be imprisoned, tortured, possibly killed.  Would you use this noble man as a bargaining chip in trade talks?  To do so would be to sell the soul of our nation.

Posted in Chen Guangcheng, China, Gary Locke, He Peirong, Hillary Clinton, Obama, Reggie Littlejohn, Uncategorized | Comments Off on Chen Guangcheng: An Open Letter to President Obama, Secretary of State Clinton and Ambassador Locke:

Chen Guangcheng risked everything to save women from forced abortion and sterilization in China

Posted on April 29, 2012 by Reggie Littlejohn

In the astonishment surrounding Chen Guangcheng’s extraordinary escape from house arrest, let us not forget why he was arrested:  in 2006 Chen exposed the Chinese government’s systematic, massive use of forced abortion and involuntary sterilization to enforce its “One Child Policy.”  WRWF obtained a copy of Chen’s field notes and we released the first English translation of these notes at a Congressional Hearing on December 6, 2011.  You can read The Chen Guangcheng Report here. http://www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org/?nav=congressional_hearing_2011

A member of Chen’s team, human rights attorney Teng Biao, drafted this 2005 investigative report into coercive family planning in Linyi City, Shandong Province.   The report contains extensive witness statements from cases Chen and his team were investigating before Chen was jailed.  In the report are detailed accounts regarding:

  • a woman forcibly aborted and sterilized at seven months;
  • villagers sleeping in fields to evade Family Planning Officials;
  • Family Planning Officials who broke three brooms over the head of an elderly man;
  • Family Planning Officials who forced a grandmother and her brother to beat each other; and
  • The use of quota systems and the practice of “implication” – the detention, fining and torture of the extended family of One Child Policy “violators.”

The Chen Guangcheng report makes clear:  the spirit of the Red Guards lives on in China’s Family Planning death machine.  WRWF released the names of the perpetrators of these crimes against humanity, so that they can be held accountable before the world.

Apparently, things have not improved in Linyi since 2005.  Just last month, a woman in Linyi was forcibly aborted at nine months. http://bbs.chinadaily.com.cn/thread-739999-1-1.html A photo of her full term baby floating in the bucket in which it was drowned circulated widely on Weibo, the Chinese equivalent of Twitter, eliciting widespread outrage.  In April 2011, Family Planning Officials stabbed a man to death when attempting to seize his sister for a forced sterilization. http://www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org/blog/?p=147 In October 2011, a woman, six months pregnant, died during a forced abortion in Lijing County, also in Shandong Province.  http://www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org/blog/?p=429

Chen may be safe for the moment, but the women for whom he risked everything are not.  Forced abortion is not a choice.  It is official government rape.  Until women in China are free to exercise perhaps their most fundamental right – the right to bear children – the nation of China will not be free.

Sign a petition to free Chen Guangcheng.  http://www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org/index.php?nav=chen-guangcheng#pet

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

Posted in Chen Guangcheng, China, Forced Abortion, forced sterilization, One Child Policy, pro-choice, pro-life, Reggie Littlejohn, Women's Rights Without Frontiers | Comments Off on Chen Guangcheng risked everything to save women from forced abortion and sterilization in China

Blind Activist Chen Guangcheng Has Escaped House Arrest; Feared in Danger

Posted on April 27, 2012 by Reggie Littlejohn

Leading Chinese activist He Peirong has reported that Chen Guangcheng has escaped house arrest.

Earlier in the day, blind forced abortion opponent Chen Guangcheng was reported “disappeared,” by a reliable source who contacted Women’s Rights Without Frontiers.  Yaxue Cao, a key Chinese human rights activist who has been advocating on behalf of Chen Guangcheng, told WRWF that she spoke with Chen’s nephew, Chen Kegui.  Kegui’s mother overheard guards saying that Chen Guangcheng had “disappeared” from his home, where he had been under strict house arrest.  Neither villagers nor family members know where he is.  Yaxue Cao posted the recording of her conversation with Chen Kegui here. http://www.freecgc.blogspot.com/2012/04/blog-post_27.html

He Peirong just told WRWF that she helped Chen escape to an undisclosed location outside of Shandong.  She said that his health is stable, but she fears he is in danger.  She also stated that the fate of Chen’s wife, mother, daughter and son may be in jeopardy as well.

A further alarming development is that on the night of Thursday, April 26, Chen’s brother (Kegui’s father) was also seized by a band of thugs, led by Zhang Jian (张健 the head of the township).   Kegui defended his parents using kitchen knives and injured the thugs, who ran away. Kegui then walked outside the village to surrender himself to the police. As he was standing outside the village, he told Cao that he fears for the lives of Chen Guangcheng and his family, and for his own life.

Reggie Littlejohn, President of Women’s Rights Without Frontiers, said, “We are grateful that Chen is no longer under house arrest, but we are concerned about his safety and that of his family.  We call upon Secretary of State Hillary Clinton specifically to raise Chen’s case during her visit to Beijing May 3-4.  Indeed, we call upon the entire international diplomatic community to make urgent, official interventions on behalf of Chen with the Chinese government.  We call upon NGOs and concerned citizens the world over strongly to support this great hero during his hour of need.”

Kegui also told Cao that he has seen Chen Guangcheng only twice since Guangcheng was put under house arrest.  When Guangcheng’s other brother died in February of this year, Chen burst out of the house but was forcibly returned by dozens of guards.  Also, early in 2011, several relatives were allowed to visit Chen briefly during the Chinese New Year.

View a video and sign a petition to free Chen Guangcheng here. http://www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org/

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