Urgent: China’s Blind Forced Abortion Opponent Needs Your Help (New Chen Guangcheng Video)

Posted on July 12, 2011 by Reggie Littlejohn

Blind activist Chen Guangcheng’s health is in serious jeopardy because of repeated beatings and malnutrition he suffers in house detention. Women’s Rights Without Frontiers and China Aid Association called today for urgent action to free Chen and his family. Women’s Rights Without Frontiers released a video demanding freedom for Chen and his family. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpVJidDqVJo

Reggie Littlejohn, President of Women’s Rights Without Frontiers, stated, “Chen’s wife sounded the alarm in a letter recently smuggled out of China. She said that Chen’s health is very fragile and worsening every day because of beatings, malnutrition and an intestinal illness. She is worried about his survival. Chen sacrificed everything to tell the world the brutal truth about forced abortion in China. He is a warrior for women’s rights. Now it’s our turn to sacrifice on behalf of Chen by fighting for his freedom.”

Bob Fu, President of China Aid, stated, “The abuse of Chen Guangcheng is unconscionable and contrary to the rule of law. His mistreatment under house arrest is deplorable, including beatings, constant surveillance, as well as confiscation of his computer, cell phone, books, his blind cane and the toys of his young daughter.”

The two organizations are partnering to spearhead an initiative to free Chen and his family. They call upon the international diplomatic community to make official interventions on behalf of Chen with the Chinese government. They also call upon individuals to write Chinese embassies and consulates around the world and sign the petition to Free Chen Guangcheng at: www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org/index.php?nav=chen-guangcheng#petition

Chen Guangcheng was arrested in 2006 for exposing evidence that 130,000 forced abortions and involuntary sterilizations were performed on women in Linyi County, Shandong Province in a single year. Time Magazine named him one of “2006’s Top 100 People Who Shape Our World” and he was given the 2007 Magsaysay award, known as Asia’s Nobel Peace Prize.

Chen spent four years, three months in prison. Since his September 2010 release, he continues to serve a sentence of home detention. Both in prison and under house arrest, Chen has experienced mistreatment and beatings. He and his wife and daughter are not allowed sufficient food and are isolated from all outside contact.

To read the letter by Chen’s wife indicating the need for urgent action, click here:
http://www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org/index.php?nav=yuan-weijing

Posted in abortion, Bob Fu, Chen Guangcheng, China, China Aid Association, China's One Child Policy, coerced abortion, crime against humanity, Forced Abortion, forced sterilization, Human Rights, One Child Policy, pro-choice, pro-life, Reggie Littlejohn, reproductive health, reproductive rights, right to choose, women, women's rights, Women's Rights Without Frontiers | 23 Comments

Littlejohn Interview, “China’s War on Women and Girls” — ZENIT

Posted on July 1, 2011 by Reggie Littlejohn

While Reggie was in Rome recently, the Institute for Human Dignity introduced her to ZENIT writer Edward Pentin, who wrote this piece.  EWTN, among others, picked it up.  It has been translated into several languages and is reprinted here with permission.

US Attorney Leads Charge Against One-Child Policy

By Edward Pentin

(Zenit.org).- “China’s one-child policy causes more violence against women and girls than any other policy on earth, than any official policy in the history of the world.”

These are the passionate words of Reggie Littlejohn, a U.S. attorney who founded Women’s Rights Without Frontiers — an international coalition that opposes forced abortion and sexual slavery in China. A Californian who in her youth worked alongside Mother Teresa in the slums of Calcutta, Littlejohn first came into contact with the policy when she represented Chinese refugees seeking political asylum in the United States in the 1990s.

“They had first been persecuted for being Christian and were then forcibly sterilized,” she recalls. “That opened up two whole new worlds to me that I wasn’t familiar with before.”

Speaking with ZENIT while on a recent visit to Rome, Littlejohn summed up the one child policy as nothing short of a “Chinese war against women and girls.” Forced abortions among women who violate the policy are commonplace in the country and sometimes carried out up to nine months of pregnancy. They can be so violent, Littlejohn says, “the women die along with their full term babies.”

But the brutality of forced abortion isn’t the only human rights violation wrought by China’s infamous “family planning policy.” It leads to gendercide because of China’s traditional preference for boys, leaving girls disproportionately subject to abortion, abandonment and infanticide. It results in sexual slavery as the elimination of baby girls has led to an increase in the trafficking of women from neighbouring countries into China, driven by an estimated 37 million more Chinese males than females.

And although the connection isn’t fully proven, the policy may also be the cause of a high rate of female suicide in China (the World Health Organization says the country has the highest female suicide rate of any country in the world, with approximately 500 Chinese women ending their lives each day). “I don’t think that’s unrelated to forced abortion, forced sterilization and infanticide,” Littlejohn says.

Nor is it only women and girls who are victims. According to numerous stories leaked out of China by individuals at risk of death, the government also applies a variety of ruthless methods on other family members in order to enforce the policy. “The tactics used are utterly terrifying,” says Littlejohn. Recalling a documented incident in March of this year, she says that family planning officials came to the home of a man in order to seize his sister for enforced sterilization. “When she wasn’t home, they started beating his father. When he tried to defend his father, one of the family planning officials took a long knife, plunged it twice into his heart and the man died. That’s murder.”

Yet so far, the murderer has not been detained, and despite the family trying to get the story out, the media refuse to report on it. “The family planning officials are above the law, they can do anything and get away with it,” says Littlejohn. “What they’re doing is terrorizing the population.”

The statistics related to China’s one-child policy are staggering. Since it was implemented in 1979, the authorities boast that 400 million lives have been prevented. The government also says about 13 million abortions are carried out every year. That amounts to 1,458 every 60 minutes or, as Littlejohn puts it, “a Tiananmen Square massacre every hour.”

“What’s ironic about this is that China instituted the one child policy for economic reasons,” Littlejohn explains. “They wanted to reduce the number of rice bowls to fill to save money, but now it’s really become China’s economic death sentence.”

She gives two reasons for this. The first is the gender disparity of 37 million extra males, which is driving human trafficking and sexual slavery within China and in surrounding countries. The second is that China will soon have an ageing population without young people to support them. She calls this a “senior tsunami” which she predicts will hit the country around 2030.

“They don’t have social security and to my knowledge they don’t have an effective plan on how to take care of this very large senior population that’s coming soon,” she says. For this reason she’s concerned “about the beginning of life and end of life,” and fears that if China is willing to force abortion at the beginning of life, “what might they force at the end of life when they are faced with a senior tsunami?” She notes that the Chinese have a culture of respecting the elderly, but wonders if support for euthanasia will gain ground when the demographic fruits of the policy are fully realized.

“Clearly the one child policy makes no sense to continue, so why keep it?” Littlejohn asks. “I believe the reason is not so much because it’s a form of population control but social control.”

Staying the course

Chinese authorities have said the policy will remain unaltered until at least 2015, although it has recently hinted it may allow a two-child policy. However, Littlejohn says that is unlikely to prevent forced abortion, sterilization or infanticide. Nor is it likely to improve the nation’s demographics. A two-child policy already is in place in rural areas and among minorities if the first is a girl, but this has done little to prevent the widespread aborting of girls in a country with a heavy preference for boys.

In spite of the widespread violence and trauma inflicted by the authorities, Western governments have done little to pressure China to change. “They have been very disappointingly weak,” Littlejohn says. “This should be the top issue among human rights activists because of size of China. One out of every five human beings is living under the terrifying grip of China’s one child policy. And it’s not just women but men. People say, ‘Why doesn’t the woman just try and run away and have the baby?’ Well, she can’t do that as then they will take it out on the father, brother, husband of the family.”

She says U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has “come down pretty hard” on Chinese forced abortion, and that the Obama White House invited her to brief them about the issue and listened with concern. But she adds that the campaign has not yet “translated into any action.” Littlejohn believes governments don’t want to rock the boat because they owe China so much money.

Moreover, she says both the United States and the United Nations are helping to finance the policy through the UNFPA (United Nations Family Planning Fund), as well as IPPF (International Planned Parenthood Federation), and Marie Stopes International. She says these organizations are operative “abortion providers” in China, and that although the United States cut funding to the UNFPA in 2001 because it was found to be complicit in the one child policy, the U.S. State Department restored funding in 2009.

However, grassroots support in the United States is growing to remove U.S. funding. As a result, Representative Renee Ellmers will introduce legislation that will cut financial support to the UNFPA, saving $400 million over the next ten years. Littlejohn stresses the bill still needs to pass through committee and be passed by the House to become effective, so there is still time for voters to pressure their members of congress about it.

On the positive side, this gruesome policy has inadvertently unified not only “pro-choice” and “pro-life” advocates in opposing forced abortion, but also brought religions together. Littlejohn points out that neither Chinese Christians, Jews, Muslims nor Buddhists support abortion, meaning that “believers in these religions who are forced to have these abortions see it as a form of religious persecution.”

Yet despite the extent of the human rights tragedy, Littlejohn is optimistic things will change. “There’s no way that this can be carried on for much longer,” she says. “Either the Chinese Communist party will agree to end this atrocity, or it will end without their agreement.”

A powerful short video made by Women’s Rights Without Frontiers on China’s one child policy can be viewed here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjtuBcJUsjY

An international petition against forced abortion and sexual slavery in China can be signed here: www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org/index.php?nav=sign_our_petition

To read this article in Spanish, click here:

La guerra de China contra las mujeres y ninas, 6/7/11
http://www.hazteoir.org/noticia/39187-guerra-china-mujeres-y-ninas

To read this article in Portuguese, click here:
A guerra da China contra as mulheres e meninas
http://www.zenit.org/article-28172?l=portuguese

To read a related article in Hungarian, click here:
Szisztematikusan írtják a nőket Kínában
http://www.mindennapi.hu/cikk/vilaghir/szisztematikusan-irtjak-a-noket-kinaban/2011-06-07/3840

Posted in abortion, China, China's One Child Policy, coerced abortion, crime against humanity, female suicide, Forced Abortion, forced sterilization, gendercide, human dignity, human trafficking, International Planned Parenthood Federation, IPPF, One Child Policy, pro-choice, pro-life, Reggie Littlejohn, reproductive health, reproductive rights, right to choose, sexual slavery, Uncategorized, UNFPA, women's rights | 1 Comment

Forced Abortion in China — Blind Activist’s Wife Cries for Help

Posted on June 17, 2011 by Reggie Littlejohn

(June 16, 2011 – Linyi, Shandong) In a letter released by China Aid yesterday, the wife of blind activist Chen Guangcheng tells the story of their torture under house arrest. Yuan Weijing writes:

They beat and tortured my husband Chen Guangcheng and me for more than 2 hours . . . More than 10 men covered me totally with a blanket and kicked my ribs and all over my body . . . I saw more than ten men surrounded Chen Guangcheng, torturing him. Some of them twisted his arms forcefully while the others were pushing his head down and lifting his collar up tightly.

Yuan’s letter also states that the police sealed their windows with sheets of metal, seized their computer, confiscated their books, stole Chen’s blind cane, and grabbed toys belonging to their young daughter. Further, Chen has been denied medical treatment and his health is in jeopardy. Yuan’s letter ends with a plea for legal action to protect her family.  The full text of her letter is below.

Why is the Chinese Communist Party determined to crush Chen?  The CCP wants the world to think that its One Child Policy is voluntary.  Chen, however, exposed the systematic use of forced abortion and involuntary sterilization in implementing this policy.  Time Magazine named him in its list of “2006’s Top 100 People Who Shape Our World.” The Chinese Communist Party, however, handed him a four year jail sentence. His family has been languishing under house arrest since his release in October, 2010.

Chen Guangcheng is the “Tank Man” against China’s One Child Policy. Impoverished, beaten and blind, Chen nevertheless possesses the surpassing backbone to stand alone against the grinding juggernaut of this totalitarian regime. The CCP apparently perceives in Chen a real threat to its crumbling legitimacy.

In pressing for justice for Chen and his family, let us not forget those for whom he has sacrificed his freedom: the families of China who are being shattered daily by forced abortion, forced sterilization and infanticide. The coercive enforcement of China’s One Child Policy causes more violence against women and girls than any other official policy on earth. It is the greatest women’s rights issue in the world today. No one supports forced abortion, because it is not a choice.

Women’s Rights Without Frontiers condemns the house arrest of Chen and his family. We demand their immediate release and medical attention.

To sign a petition to free Chen (with the World Youth Alliance), click here.

To see a four minute video, “Stop Forced Abortion in China!” click here.

Here is a translation of the full text of Yuan’s letter:

February 18, 2011, led by the vice secretary of the Communist Party of Shuanghou Town, Zhang Jian and some National Security Policemen, a group of 70-80 guys stormed through my home gate. They beat and tortured my husband Chen Guangcheng and me for more than 2 hours. Without showing any legal documents and without any of them wearing a uniform, they plundered almost everything from my home. My husband and I were wounded severely, yet not allowed to leave home for any medical aid.

More than 10 men covered me totally with a blanket and kicked my ribs and all over my body. After half an hour’s non-stop torture, I finally squeezed my head out of the blanket. I saw more than 10 men surrounded Chen Guangcheng, torturing him. Some of them twisted his arms forcefully while the others pushing his head down and lifting his collar up tightly. Given his poor health condition of long-time diarrhea, Guangchen was not able to resist and passed out after more than two hours of torture. My left eyebrow bone and one of my bottom left ribs might be broken. My left eye lost vision for 5-6 days because of the bruise, blood in the white of my eye, and swollenness. Even today, I still cannot stand with my body straight and I suffer pain when breathing. At the same time we were being tortured, the other men performed a thorough search with all kinds of detective equipment. They took away our computer, video camera, audio tape recorder, all of our chargers, and even flashlights, etc.

When they were searching, they kept silent. None of them had uniforms on, neither did they showed any legal document to us. They did not even give us a receipt for the confiscated items of our family property. Before their departure, Zhang Jian said to us that they were following orders from higher-level officials, and he expected we understood that without his explanation. He ordered those men to drop us on the ground, and left with them.

We had to stay in bed because of the wounds, having difficulties turning around our bodies. We had no access to any medical aid. On Feb 19 they only allowed me to get a one-time IV injection from a village doctor. No more medical aid afterward.

On March 3, they sealed our windows with sheets of metal. On March 6 they cut off electric power. At midnight of March 7, the guards crept into our home and cut off our TV antenna. In the morning of March 8, the electric power was back. On the same day, Zhang Jiang led 40-50 men storming into my home and took away our old computer, some hand written materials, DVD player and the remote, and all of the materials about Chen Guangcheng’s case. Zhang punched my head with his fist because I confronted him by asking why they were robbing us.

On March 17, Zhang Jian led another group of 40-50 men into my home with a few dozen huge bags. They sacked all of our property which they thought they should take into the bags, including all of our books, the posters of our children on the wall, the calendar, Guangcheng’s blind cane, all of our papers, worn power plugs, antenna, wires, etc. March 22, they installed two video cameras on our home gate and southwest corner of our courtyard so they can monitor my home completely.

Since Feb 24, our five-year-old daughter has been under house arrest, just like us, without being allowed to step outside of home. They took her books and some toys away. She said in her own words, “I am such a girl to be pitied. They robbed everything from me.”

Guangcheng’s mother is closely followed and physically monitored by 3 men every day, step by step, even when she works in the farm’s field. After mid-March, she was not allowed to go out even for buying vegetables. Therefore our daily life has gotten too hard to survive. Besides, Guangcheng’s health condition got worse. The blood from his diarrhea turned to dark instead of red as before. That is why I am so worried.

Once you have received this letter, please manage to let our friends Teng Biao, Zhai Minglei, Jiang Tianyong, Zhang Yongpan, etc, know. Please ask them to follow legal procedures in taking action against the crime of robbing my home and injuring us purposefully, or to use other means to help us. They already told Guangcheng’s mother twice that they plan to move us to an empty courtyard in font our village.

Very thankful.
Yuan Weijing.

Translation courtesy of the China Aid Association, http://www.chinaaid.org/2011/06/detained-blind-activist-chen-guangcheng.html

Posted in abortion, Chen Guangcheng, China, China Aid Association, China's One Child Policy, coerced abortion, Forced Abortion, forced sterilization, infanticide, One Child Policy, pro-choice, pro-life, reproductive health, reproductive rights, right to choose, women, women's rights, World Youth Alliance | 3 Comments

Stop Forced Abortion in China — 4 Minute Video

Posted on June 16, 2011 by Reggie Littlejohn

Watch this short video to learn the truth about “family planning” in China.  Then share this video with your friends and take action.  The world must know!

Posted in abortion, China, China's One Child Policy, coerced abortion, Forced Abortion, forced sterilization, Human Rights, One Child Policy, reproductive health, reproductive rights, right to choose, Uncategorized, women, women's rights | 26 Comments

You Are Funding Forced Abortions In China

Posted on May 31, 2011 by Reggie Littlejohn

You are funding forced abortions in China.  So am I.  Not only elective abortions.  Forced abortions.  It doesn’t matter whether you are pro-life or pro-choice on this issue.  No one can support forced abortion, because it is not a choice.

What do I mean by “forced abortions”?  Here’s a short video about a young, Chinese woman who was dragged off the street, strapped to a table and forced to abort at seven months.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjtuBcJUsjY.  You can read many more accounts of forced abortion, forced sterilization and infanticide under China’s brutal One Child Policy here.  http://www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org/index.php?nav=congressional

According to the Congressional-Executive Commission on China report, released on October 10, 2010, violators of China’s One Child Policy continue to be victims of “forced sterilization, forced abortion, arbitrary detention, and other abuses.”
The One Child Policy has also led to many other serious human rights violations. I’ll name just three:

1. Gendercide. Because of the traditional preference for boys, girls are disproportionately subject to abortion, abandonment and infanticide.

2. Sexual Slavery. Because of the selective elimination of baby girls, there are now an estimated 37 million more males than females living in China today.  This severe gender imbalance is a powerful, driving force behind trafficking in women and sexual slavery from nations surrounding China.

3. Female Suicide. According to the World Health Organization, China has the highest female suicide rate of any country in the world.  Approximately 500 Chinese women end their lives each day.  Could this extraordinary suicide rate be related to the trauma of enduring a forced abortion or forced sterilization?

How does this affect us?  We are helping finance the infrastructure used in coercive family planning in China.  The international community funds UNFPA (United Nations Family Planning Fund), as well as IPPF (International Planned Parenthood Federation), and Marie Stopes International.  These organizations are operative “abortion providers” in China.   In 2001, the US cut funding to UNFPA because an investigation, headed by then Secretary of State Colin Powell, found that UNFPA was complicit in the coercive implementation of China’s One Child Policy.  In 2008, the US State Department reaffirmed that determination, and yet we restored funding in 2009.  UNFPA is also funded by many other nations.

In addition, the IPPF and Marie Stopes are working hand in hand with the Chinese Communist population control machine, which has been notorious in its excesses.  The IPPF website openly declares, “The China Family Planning Association (CFPA) plays a very important role in China’s family planning programme.  It supports the present family planning policy of the government . . .”  Meanwhile, the website for Marie Stopes International, lists as “major partners” the Family Planning Commissions of several provinces in China.

Just last week, US citizens voted to cut UNFPA funding under the new YOUCUT program.  http://majorityleader.gov/YouCut/P2_W1.htm Because of this vote, Rep. Renee Ellmers will introduce legislation to cut UNFPA, saving $400 million over the next ten years.  The bill still needs to pass through committee and be passed by the House to become effective, so you still have time to contact your representative about it.

An admirer of American democracy once observed, “America is great because she is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, she will cease to be great.”  May we not lose our goodness, and hence our greatness as a nation by funding forced abortions in China.

To sign an international petition against forced abortion and sexual slavery in China, click here.

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

To watch a four-minute video, “Stop Forced Abortion in China!” click here.

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

Posted in abortion, China, China's One Child Policy, coerced abortion, crime against humanity, Forced Abortion, forced sterilization, gendercide, human dignity, Human Rights, human trafficking, infanticide, International Planned Parenthood Federation, IPPF, life, Marie Stopes, One Child Policy, pro-choice, pro-life, Renee Ellmers, reproductive health, reproductive rights, right to choose, sexual slavery, Uncategorized, UNFPA, women, women's rights, Youcut | Comments Off on You Are Funding Forced Abortions In China

Women’s World Surfing Champ Boycotts China

Posted on April 18, 2011 by Reggie Littlejohn


Women’s Rights Without Frontiers applauds Cori Schumacher, the reigning Women’s World Longboard Surfing Champion.  Schumacher is boycotting the 2011 World Tour on moral grounds, because one of the events will be held in China.  Citing a hearing before the United States Congress Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, Schumacher wrote the following to the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP):

“I have deep political and personal reservations with being a part of any sort of benefit to a country that actively engages in human rights violations, specifically those in violation of women. The ASP’s reconnaissance of possible sites in China for events last year and its first ASP event in China followed an important US congressional hearing on China’s “One Child Policy,” a policy sanctioned by the Chinese government that is implicated in gendercide, sexual slavery, forced sterilization and forced abortions. (http://www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org/index.php?nav=congressional)”

Women’s Rights Without Frontiers issues the following statement:

“To Ms. Schumacher: You are a woman of tremendous courage, conviction and backbone — a shining light not only to female athletes, but to all women who are struggling for basic human dignity, all over the world.  Your decision to boycott the ASP 2011 World Tour comes at a price.  Your sacrifice is a great inspiration to the women of China and has been publicized there widely.  You embody the highest ideals of athleticism – not only outstanding achievement in your sport, but also a consummate moral vision that finds expression in courageous and self-sacrificing action.  We salute you.

“To the ASP:  China’s One Child Policy is enforced through forced abortion, forced sterilization and infanticide.  It is also a driving force behind gendercide, sexual slavery, and female suicide.  It causes more violence towards women and girls than any other official policy on earth and any other official policy in the history of the world.  Why are you dignifying this brutality by holding your tournament in China?  Read the Congressional Testimony of forced abortion victim Wujian and watch the four minute video, “Stop Forced Abortion in China!”  Then do the right thing:  move your tournament to the shores of a land whose waves are not awash in the blood of women.”

Relevant Links:

Congressional Testimony of Forced Abortion Victim Wujian:

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

Stop Forced Abortion in China! (four minute video):

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

Petition against forced abortion in China:

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

Article Announcing Schumacher’s boycott:

http://blog.surf-station.com/2011/03/world-champion-boycotts-2011-asp-tour/

Report of Schumacher’s Boycott in Mandarin on Voice of America:

http://www.voanews.com/chinese/news/20110416-women-world-champion-119972704.html

Posted in abortion, Association of Surfing Professionals, China, coerced abortion, Cori Schumacher, crime against humanity, Forced Abortion, forced sterilization, gendercide, human dignity, Human Rights, human trafficking, infanticide, life, One Child Policy, pro-choice, pro-life, reproductive health, reproductive rights, right to choose, sexual slavery, surfing, Tom Lantos, women, women's rights | Comments Off on Women’s World Surfing Champ Boycotts China

China: Family Planning Official Stabs Man to Death

Posted on April 5, 2011 by Reggie Littlejohn

Linyi City, Shandong Province, China.   On the night of March 21, 2011, near the home of blind activist Chen Guangcheng, a Family Planning Official stabbed a young man to death while he was trying to protect his father from a beating.  Family Planning Officials entered the home of Mr. Xu Shuaishuai looking for his sister to seize her for a forced sterilization.  When they could not find Mr. Xu’s sister, they beat and injured his father.  When Mr. Xu tried to defend his father, one of the Family Planning Officials stabbed Mr. Xu in the heart twice with a long knife.  Mr. Xu died on the way to the hospital.

Local government authorities have not apologized to the family of Mr. Xu, nor have they arrested the murderer.  The local news agencies have declined to report on the murder.  A full translation of the Boxun report is below.

Women’s Rights Without Frontiers extends its condolences to the family of Mr. Xu.  We also forcefully condemn this atrocious crime.  We demand that the Chinese Communist Party bring the family planning murderer and his accomplices at the Family Planning Office to swift justice.

The murder of Mr. Xu underscores the brutality of the coercive enforcement of China’s One Child Policy.  The first level of coercion is directed against the women themselves.  In this case the Family Planning Officials came to Mr. Xu’s home to seize his sister for a forced sterilization.  The violence, however, extends to family members, including siblings, parents and even elderly grandparents.

The fact that no action is being taken against the family planning murderer demonstrates one of two things:  either the Chinese Communist Party sanctions murder to enforce its One Child Policy, or the CCP has lost control of its Family Planning Officials and is unable to bring the murderer to justice.

This family planning murder is a shocking and extreme example of the way in which the CCP uses the seemingly innocuous “One Child Policy” to terrorize the people of China, but every day coercive family planning presses fear into the hearts of the Chinese people.  Women who become pregnant without a birth permit — illegally pregnant – are terrified of discovery and forced abortion.  Fathers feel helpless to protect their wives and children.  Paid informants – friends, neighbors, co-workers — tear down trust in Chinese society.  Family members can be detained and tortured.

The One Child Policy, moreover, is causing a demographic disaster for the nation of China and it makes no sense to continue it.  Because of the traditional preference for boys, girls are disproportionately aborted.  This “gendercide” has given rise to a critical gender imbalance:  there are now an estimated 37 million more men than women in China.  Thirty seven million men who will never marry is an irresistible, driving force behind sexual slavery, not only in China but in the surrounding countries as well.  And in the year 2030, China’s retirees will overtake the ability of the diminished youthful population to support it.  China has no social security and no effective plan to deal with this “senior tsunami.”  Because of the lack of young workers, China is no longer a source of inexpensive labor and is losing foreign investment to other nations.  See, e.g., “China’s Workforce Dries Up,” http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/8409513/Chinas-workforce-dries-up.html, March 30, 2011.

The CCP instituted the One Child Policy in 1980 to enhance China’s economic prosperity.  Ironically, this same Policy has become China’s economic death sentence.  Why, then, does the CCP insist on keeping this policy long after it has served its purpose?  Could it be that the purpose of the One Child Policy is no longer to control the size of the population, but rather to keep a tight fist on social and political control?   Could it be that the One Child Policy not only results in terrorizing the population, but in fact instilling terror has become its very purpose?

How does this affect us?  We (the people of the United States, England, and other nations) are helping finance the infrastructure used in coercive family planning in China.  The international community funds UNFPA, United Nations Family Planning Fund, as well as IPPF, the International Planned Parenthood Federation, and Marie Stopes International.  These organizations are operative “abortion providers” in China.  In 2008, then Secretary of State Colin Powell found that UNFPA was complicit in coercive family planning in China.  And the IPPF website openly declares, “The China Family Planning Association (CFPA) plays a very important role in China’s family planning programme.  It supports the present family planning policy of the government, which is appropriate for the present national situation . . .” http://www.ippf.org/en/Where/cn.htm.  Meanwhile, the website for Marie Stopes International, lists as “major partners” the Family Planning Commissions of several provinces in China. http://www.mariestopes.org/Where_we_work/Countries/China.aspx

Why are we financing the infrastructure of coercive family planning and forced abortion in China with taxpayer money?

To sign a petition against forced abortion and sexual slavery in China, click here. http://www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org/index.php?nav=sign_our_petition

Translation of the report published on Boxun:

http://boxun.com/news/gb/china/2011/03/201103272151.shtml

Linyi County, Shangdong Province, China.  About 7:00 p.m. on the evening of March 21, 2011, Family Planning Officials from Jiuqu Town, Hedong District, Linyi County, Shangdong province, together with the women’s director of Suyubu village of Jiuqu town –a total of more than 10 people — came to the home of Mr. Xu Shuaishuai (the victim) in Xiao Xujia Zhanzi Village in Taiping Town of Hedong District.  They arrived to coerce the sister of Xu Shuaishuai to be forcibly sterilized.

When the Family Planning Officials could not find the sister of Xu Shuaishuai, they initiated an argument with the father of Xu Shuaishuai and they began to beat him.  When Mr. Xu Shuaishuai saw his father being beaten and injured, he came out and tried to stop the beating.  Suddenly, one of the Family Planning Officials stabbed Mr. Xu Shuaishuai twice in the heart with a long knife.  Mr. Xu Shuanishuai immediately fell unto the ground, bleeding.  He died on the way to the hospital.

News of this incident immediately spread:  the local Family Planning Officials illegally went to the home of a local famer and viciously murdered an innocent young man who tried to protect his father in his own home.  The local farmers protested and strongly condemned this action. When the family members of the victim approached the local government and Public Security Bureau asking for justice, they were rejected and given various excuses.  No one from the Family Planning Department apologized to the family of the victim. The murderer is still enjoying his freedom as though nothing had happened.

The family of the victim also stated that they did come to ask for help from the local news media, but the local media always listen to the local government.  The local news paper, Yimeng Evening, told the family that they dared not report the incident.  The local TV Program, called “Today’s Law,” stated that they need to report to the leaders, and that they are waiting for  direction from above.

With the unexpected, heavy blow of losing her son, the mother of the victim is now suffering a mental disorder, sometimes crying and sometimes laughing.  Meanwhile, the honest and faithful father lost all human feeling while facing the ruthless conduct of the local government.  At times he wishes he had died together with his murdered son.

Originally reported by Xu Jin on the Weiquan web site, as told by Lu Feng of Linyi.  http://groups.google.com/group/weiquanwang_CHRD/browse_thread/thread/62f35e9684440133?pli=1

Posted in abortion, Chen Guangcheng, China, coerced abortion, Forced Abortion, forced sterilization, gendercide, human dignity, Human Rights, human trafficking, International Planned Parenthood Federation, IPPF, life, Marie Stopes, One Child Policy, pro-choice, pro-life, reproductive health, reproductive rights, right to choose, sexual slavery, Uncategorized, UNFPA, women, women's rights | 9 Comments

China May Drop One-Child Policy, But Coercive Abortion Likely Would Continue

Posted on April 1, 2011 by Reggie Littlejohn

Posted on Mar 31, 2011 | by Tom Strode

WASHINGTON (BP)–China may consider lifting its one-child policy, but that does not mean it will terminate its practice of coercive population control, an American advocate for women’s rights says.

A two-child policy to start in 2015 was proposed at the annual meeting of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and the National People’s Congress the week of March 6-12, according to The Lancet, a British medical journal. If enacted, the change would discard the current one-child policy in cities. A two-child policy already is in place in rural areas and among minorities, if the first is a girl.

Communist Chinese officials often have brutally enforced the one-child policy since it was implemented in 1979. Government actions against those found in violation have included forced abortions on women in the eighth and ninth months of pregnancy and compulsory sterilizations. Penalties also have included fines, arrests and the destruction of homes.

The program — which requires all women to have a birth permit before becoming pregnant and monitors the reproductive cycles of women of child-bearing age — also has resulted in the infanticide and abandonment of female babies, according to reports.

Reggie Littlejohn says a switch to an urban, two-child policy will not soften China’s population control program.

“The problem with the One Child Policy is not the number of children allowed,” Littlejohn said in a written statement to Baptist Press. “Rather, it is the fact that the policy is enforced through forced abortion, forced sterilization and infanticide. Even if some couples will eventually be allowed to have two children, the Chinese Communist Party has emphatically not stated that they will cease their appalling methods of enforcement.”

Littlejohn is president of Women’s Rights Without Frontiers, a coalition that combats coercive abortion and sexual slavery in China.

Evidence from the regions already with a two-child policy shows the higher limit has done little to prevent the widespread aborting of girls in a country with a heavy preference for boys. The “areas in which two children are allowed are especially vulnerable to ‘gendercide,’ the sex-selective abortion of females,” Littlejohn said.

A study of the data from nine provinces in the 2005 Chinese national census showed 160 boys are born for every 100 girls, she said. A 2009 British medical journal analysis of the information concluded, she said, “Sex-selective abortion accounts for almost all the excess males.”

The resulting gender imbalance will result in an estimated 30 to 40 million more marriage-age men than women by 2020, according to the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. “This gender imbalance is a powerful, driving force behind trafficking in women and sexual slavery, not only in China, but in neighboring nations as well,” Littlejohn said.

The enforcement of China’s population control policy “causes more violence toward women and girls than any other official policy on earth, and any other official policy in the history of the world,” Littlejohn said.

Wang Yuqing, deputy director of China’s Committee of Population, Resources and Environment, spoke in favor of gradually expanding the two-child policy, according to the People’s Daily, the official newspaper of the Chinese Communist Party. He cited China’s aging population as a reason for the change.

Critics of China’s policy point to another statistic as an additional example of the fallout from forced population control: There are about 500 suicides a day by Chinese women, according to the World Health Organization, making China the only country in the world with a higher female suicide rate than that of males.

American opponents of China’s one-child policy have urged the Obama administration and the United Nations to end their apparent indifference on the issue. They have called for President Obama to reverse his policy of funding the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), which has been found to support China’s program. Obama reinstituted support for UNFPA, providing more than $100 million to the agency the last two years.
—-
Tom Strode is Washington bureau chief for Baptist Press.  The Baptist Press is the news service of the Southern Baptist Convention.  Republished with permission.

Posted in abortion, Baptist Press, China, coerced abortion, Forced Abortion, forced sterilization, gendercide, human trafficking, infanticide, life, One Child Policy, pro-choice, pro-life, Reggie Littlejohn, reproductive health, reproductive rights, right to choose, sexual slavery, Tom Strode, Uncategorized, UNFPA, women, women's rights | Comments Off on China May Drop One-Child Policy, But Coercive Abortion Likely Would Continue

Reggie Littlejohn Testifies on One Child Policy at European and British Parliaments

Posted on March 21, 2011 by Reggie Littlejohn

Reggie Littlejohn, President of Women’s Rights Without Frontiers and expert on China’s One Child Policy for the China Aid Association (Midland, Texas) and Human Rights Without Frontiers (Brussels, Belgium), spoke on the topic,  “Coerced Abortion in ‘Sexual and Reproductive Rights’ in China” at both the European Parliament in Brussels (March 22, 2011) and the British Parliament Palace at Westminster in London (March 23, 2011), at the invitation of the Dignitatis Humanae Institute and the All-Party Parliamentary Working Group on Human Dignity.

Here are excerpts from Ms. Littlejohn’s remarks:

On March 8, 2011 the world marked the milestone of the 100th Anniversary of International Women’s Day. While we celebrate the great advance of women’s rights in many nations, women in other nations have seen a decline.  As the president of Women’s Rights Without Frontiers, I am dedicated to the plight of the 100 million missing women who are victims of “gendercide,” the sex-selective abortion of baby girls.  And let us not forget the women in China who are victims of the One Child Policy, which is enforced through forced abortion, forced sterilization and infanticide.  I have been asked to speak about China’s One Child Policy in the context of “Sexual and Reproductive Rights.”  The women of China have had perhaps their most fundamental sexual and reproductive right stripped away:  the right to bear children.

Most people know that China has a One Child Policy.  Very few people stop to think about how it’s enforced – through forced abortion, forced sterilization and infanticide.  The coercive enforcement of China’s One Child Policy causes more violence against women and girls than any other official policy on earth.  It is the largest women’s rights issue in the world today, affecting one out of every five women in the world.  Whether you are pro-life or pro-choice on this issue, no one supports forced abortion, because it is not a choice.

The One Child Policy causes violence against women and girls in the following ways:

First, forced abortion is violent.  Women are literally dragged out of their homes.  These forced abortions can happen up the ninth month of pregnancy.  Sometimes the women themselves die.

This is picture of Liu Dan.  In 2009, she was 21 years old and 9 months pregnant when family planning police grabbed her out of her home, dragged her pleading and crying to the local family planning office, and forcibly aborted her full term baby.  They did this even though they already knew from medical tests that she had high blood pressure and that a forced late term abortion would be dangerous for her.  After the forced abortion, she lay alone and unconscious in an operating room in the family planning center.  Sensing something was wrong, her fiancé burst into the room at 3:00 a.m. to find her bleeding from the eyes, nose, ears and mouth.  Even so, the family planning police refused to call for emergency help, until her family insisted.  Help arrived too late.  Liu Dan died, along with her full term baby.

I believe that forced abortion as it is practiced in China is official government rape.  It is the violent, state sanctioned penetration of a woman to destroy her bodily integrity.  A victim of forced abortion, like a victim of rape, is traumatized physically, emotionally and spiritually.  She will never be the same again.  Forced abortion tramples on the human dignity of women.  Any discussion of women’s rights, of human rights, or of human dignity, would be a charade if forced abortion in China is not front and center.  Rather, the Chinese Communist Party’s forced abortion policy is systematic, institutionalized violence against women.

[Note:  To view the video, “Stop Forced Abortion in China!” click here.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjtuBcJUsjY.]

Forced sterilization is also violent and can lead to life-long health complications.

Regarding infanticide, read the chilling document called “Best Practices – Infanticide.”  It’s a web-based discussion copied from the official website for Chinese obstetricians and gynecologists about how best to kill infants being born alive during induced labor forced abortion.  [Note:  To read this document, click here.  http://www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org/index.php?nav=congressional.]

Because of the traditional preference for boys, girls are selectively aborted, resulting in the snuffing out of little female lives.  It is estimated that there are 100 million women and girls missing in the world today due to sex selective abortion.  This is called gendercide, the sex-selective abortion of baby girls.

Because of this gendercide, there are an estimate 37 million more men than women living in China today  — 37 million frustrated men who will never marry because their future wives were aborted before they were born.  This gender imbalance is in turn the driving force behind human trafficking and sexual slavery, not only within China but also the surrounding countries, including North Korea, Vietnam, Burma, Mongolia and Thailand.

China has the highest female suicide rate in the world.  According to the World Health Organization, 500 women end their lives every day in China.  I don’t think that the despair that leads to suicide is unrelated to the coercive enforcement of the One Child Policy.

Forced abortion.  Forced sterilization.  Infanticide.  Gendercide.  Sexual slavery.  Suicide.  These are the unintended consequences of the One Child Policy.

Not only are the women themselves persecuted, but those who stand up for them are persecuted as well.  Blind activist Chen Guangcheng is a national hero in China, because he has had the courage to stand up against the hated One Child Policy.  Chen exposed the fact that there were 130,000 forced abortions and sterilizations in Linyi County in 2005.  For this he was jailed for four years and three months, tortured, and denied medical treatment.  Last month a video featuring Chen Guangcheng was leaked to the West.  The next day Chen and his wife, Yuan Weijing, were “beaten senseless” in retaliation for the release of the video.  They were denied medical treatment.  Women’s Rights Without Frontiers calls for the immediate, unconditional release from house arrest of Chen Guangcheng and his family, and for urgent medical treatment.  Those in China cannot criticize the One Child Policy without putting themselves and their families at risk.  [Note: To sign a petition to Free Chen Guangcheng, click here: http://www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org/.]

In China, a woman’s body is not her own.  It belongs to the state.  A woman’s womb is the most intimate part of her body – physically, emotionally and spiritually. For the Chinese Communist Party to force its bloody hand right into a woman’s womb and crush the life inside her is a heinous crime against humanity.  It must be stopped. [Note:  To sign a petition to stop forced abortion in China, click here:  http://www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org/index.php?nav=sign_our_petition.]

Posted in abortion, Brussels, Chen Guangcheng, China, China Aid Association, coerced abortion, crime against humanity, European Parliament, Forced Abortion, forced sterilization, gendercide, human dignity, Human Rights, Human Rights Without Frontiers, human trafficking, infanticide, International Women's Day, life, London, One Child Policy, pro-choice, pro-life, rape, Reggie Littlejohn, reproductive health, reproductive rights, right to choose, sexual slavery, women, women's rights | Comments Off on Reggie Littlejohn Testifies on One Child Policy at European and British Parliaments

International Women’s Day: Reggie Littlejohn is Keynote Speaker, Award Recipient

Posted on March 12, 2011 by Reggie Littlejohn

Reggie Littlejohn highlighted the suffering of women under China’s One Child Policy as the Keynote Speaker and Award of Excellence recipient at the 100th Anniversary of International Women’s Day celebration in Boston on March 8, 2011.  Below are her remarks.

I am deeply humbled to receive the Award of Excellence on this historic day, and I applaud the Women’s Information Network for its vision and courage in highlighting the biggest women’s rights issue in the world today:  the coercive enforcement of China’s One Child Policy.  I accept this award on behalf of the women and families who continue to suffer because of forced abortion, forced sterilization and infanticide.  In accepting this award I acknowledge Congressman Chris Smith, and his wife Marie, who have gone before me as true heroes tirelessly advocating against forced abortion in China for decades.  I also acknowledge Bob Fu, Mark Shan and Brother George of the China Aid Association, who have worked shoulder to shoulder with me in the delicate and difficult effort to document coercive family planning in China.  I acknowledge the anonymous sources within China who have risked their safety to leak to the West the brutal truth about coercive population control at the hands of the Chinese Communist Party.

Today marks the 100th Anniversary of International Women’s Day.  Think of how far we’ve come in the past 100 years.  Women of the 20th century have been true trail-blazers, shattering almost every glass ceiling that loomed above our foremothers of 100 years ago. Marie Curie became pre-eminent in the sciences, winning not just one, but two Nobel Prizes.  Amelia Earhart was a pioneer in aviation, the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean.  We have seen the rise of great women humanitarians, such as First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, drafter of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and Mother Teresa.  And we have seen several powerful Prime Ministers:  Golda Meir of Israel, Indira Gandhi of India, and Margaret Thatcher of the UK.  It is only a matter of time before we see a woman President of the United States.

While women in some areas of the world celebrate the great advances in women’s rights in our nations, women in other areas have seen a decline.  As the president of Women’s Rights Without Frontiers, I am dedicated to the plight of more than half a billion women in China who are victims of the One Child Policy.  They have had perhaps their most fundamental right stripped away:  the right to bear children.  And let us not forget the 100 million missing women who are victims of “gendercide,” the sex-selective abortion of baby girls.

Most people know that China has a One Child Policy.  Very few people stop to think about how it’s enforced – through forced abortion, forced sterilization and infanticide.

The coercive enforcement of China’s One Child Policy causes more violence against women and girls than any other official policy on earth.  It is the biggest women’s rights issue in the world today.  It does not matter whether you are pro-life or pro-choice on this issue.  No one supports forced abortion, because it is not a choice.

The One Child Policy causes violence against women and girls in the following ways:

First, forced abortion is violent.  Women are literally dragged out of their homes.  These forced abortions can happen up the ninth month of pregnancy.  Sometimes the women themselves die during late term forced abortions.  [Note:  to view a four-minute video, “Stop Forced Abortion in China!” click here. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjtuBcJUsjY]

Second, forced sterilization is also violent and can lead to life-long health complications.

Third, regarding infanticide, I point you to a document I submitted into the Congressional Record, called “Best Practices – Infanticide.”  It’s a web-based discussion copied from the official website for Chinese obstetricians and gynecologists about how best to kill infants being born alive during induced labor forced abortion.  [Note:  To read this document and other expert reports, click here. http://www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org/index.php?nav=congressional]

Fourth, because of the traditional preference for boys, girls are selectively aborted, resulting in the snuffing out of little female lives.  It is estimated that there are 100 million women and girls missing in the world today due to sex selective abortion.  This is called gendercide, the sex-selective abortion of baby girls.

Fifth, because of this gendercide, there are an estimate 37 million more men than women living in China today  — 37 million frustrated men who will never marry because their future wives were sex-selected for abortion before they were born.  This gender imbalance is in turn the driving force behind human trafficking and sexual slavery, not only within China but also the surrounding countries, including North Korea, Vietnam, Burma, Mongolia and Thailand.

Sixth, China has the highest female suicide rate in the world.  According to the World Health Organization, 500 women end their lives every day in China.  I don’t think that the despair that leads to suicide is unrelated to the coercive enforcement of the One Child Policy.

Forced abortion.  Forced sterilization.  Infanticide.  Gendercide.  Sexual slavery.  Suicide.  These are the unintended consequences of the One Child Policy.

Not only are the women themselves persecuted, but those who stand up for them are persecuted as well.  Blind activist Chen Guangcheng is a hero in China, because he has had the courage to stand up against the hated One Child Policy.  Chen exposed the fact that there were 130,000 forced abortions and sterilizations in Linyi County in 2005.  For this he was jailed for four years and three months, tortured, and denied medical treatment.  Last month a video featuring Chen Guangcheng was leaked to the West.  Chen and his wife, Yuan Weijing, were “beaten senseless” in retaliation for the release of the video.  They were denied medical treatment.  Women’s Rights Without Frontiers calls for the immediate, unconditional release from house arrest of Chen Guangcheng and his family, and for urgent medical treatment. [Note:  to sign a petition to Free Chen Guangcheng, click here: http://www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org/index.php?nav=chen-guangcheng]

Those in China cannot criticize the One Child Policy without putting themselves and their families at risk.  As an American, I have free speech.  Because I can speak out, I feel the moral obligation to do so.

How does forced abortion in China affect us as Americans?  In two ways:

First, CNN’s Ted Turner has repeatedly called for the whole world, including the United States, to adopt the One Child Policy, most recently at the Cancun Climate Conference in December 2010.  Turner says that its enforcement is not coercive.  This statement is demonstrably false.  Adopting the One Child Policy worldwide would hurl women’s rights back to the dark ages.

Second, forced abortion in China affects us as Americans because we’re subsidizing it by funding the UNFPA, which was found by then-Secretary of State Colin Powell to be complicit in coercive family planning in China.  Why should American tax dollars subsidize forced abortion in China?

People often ask me how I became involved with this issue.  For years I was a litigation attorney and represented large companies in their intellectual property or commercial lawsuits.  In the mid-nineties I represented a Chinese refugee in her case for political asylum.  She had been forcibly sterilized — dragged out of her home screaming and pleading, strapped down to a table, and sterilized without anesthesia.  The surgical instruments were not sanitary, so she suffered from a massive infection that left her with chronic back pain, abdominal pain and migraines, destroying her health.  It was through this dear woman that I discovered the horrifying reality behind the One Child Policy.

In 2003 and for several years afterwards, I faced my own personal health crisis.  During mastectomy surgery, I became infected with a highly drug-resistant MRSA staph infection.  Overnight I went from being a big firm lawyer to lying flat on my back, completely disabled, and crying out to God to spare my life.  As I faced my own mortality, my heart went out to those who were worse off than I was, especially women like my former client who were undergoing forced abortion or forced sterilization at that moment.  Facing death, I wanted my life to make a difference for them.  I believe I was restored to complete health by a divine hand and given a mission that sets my heart on fire:  to end forced abortion and sexual slavery in China.  Doors have swung open to me as I embraced this mission.

Every woman here has her own story, and no one on earth is immune from suffering.  May our pain make us more compassionate towards the needs of others, especially those in even greater pain.  Perhaps you have already found an issue that sets your heart on fire and you have dedicated your life to making a difference for others.  If so, I wish you all the best.

But perhaps you haven’t yet.  Do you want your life to have more meaning and purpose?  Do you want to have an impact?  Women in the United States and all over the world need your help.  In the US, we have an urgent problem with human trafficking and sexual slavery.  There are many excellent organizations that address this issue.  Donate money to them, or volunteer for them.  Get involved!  If you want to help fight forced abortion in China, please let me know — I’d love to work with you.  It’s amazing how much power there is in simply putting the link to an organization on your Facebook page or tweeting about it.  You can start by signing the petition to free Chen Guangcheng. http://www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org/index.php?nav=chen-guangcheng

There are women all over the world who desperately need our help – victims of female genital mutilation, bride burning, stoning, honor killing, forced abortion, forced sterilization, gendercide, sexual slavery.  These practices must be stopped, and stopping them is no small challenge.  We need the full commitment of every person who is able to help.  Think of the issue that breaks your heart.  Resolve to take the first step towards helping women who need you today – the 100th Anniversary of International Women’s Day.  A journey of 1000 miles begins with a single step. Remember, women are not free until all women are free.

Posted in abortion, Bob Fu, Chen Guangcheng, China, China Aid Association, Chris Smith, Forced Abortion, forced sterilization, gendercide, Human Rights, human trafficking, infanticide, International Women's Day, life, One Child Policy, Reggie Littlejohn, sexual slavery, Ted Turner, women, women's rights | Comments Off on International Women’s Day: Reggie Littlejohn is Keynote Speaker, Award Recipient