{"id":128,"date":"2011-03-21T17:21:14","date_gmt":"2011-03-21T17:21:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org\/blog\/?p=128"},"modified":"2011-07-01T20:28:39","modified_gmt":"2011-07-01T20:28:39","slug":"reggie-littlejohn-to-speak-at-european-and-british-parliaments-on-one-child-policy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org\/blog\/reggie-littlejohn-to-speak-at-european-and-british-parliaments-on-one-child-policy\/","title":{"rendered":"Reggie Littlejohn Testifies on One Child Policy at European and British Parliaments"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Reggie Littlejohn, President of Women’s Rights Without Frontiers and expert on China\u2019s One Child Policy for the China Aid Association (Midland, Texas) and Human Rights Without Frontiers (Brussels, Belgium), spoke on the topic,\u00a0 “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.<\/p>\n

Here are excerpts from Ms. Littlejohn’s remarks:<\/p>\n

On March 8, 2011 the world marked the milestone of the 100th Anniversary of International Women\u2019s Day. While we celebrate the great advance of women\u2019s rights in many nations, women in other nations have seen a decline.\u00a0 As the president of Women\u2019s Rights Without Frontiers, I am dedicated to the plight of the 100 million missing women who are victims of \u201cgendercide,\u201d the sex-selective abortion of baby girls.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 I have been asked to speak about China’s One Child Policy in the context of “Sexual and Reproductive Rights.”\u00a0 The women of China have had perhaps their most fundamental sexual and reproductive right stripped away:\u00a0 the right to bear children.<\/p>\n

Most people know that China has a One Child Policy.\u00a0 Very few people stop to think about how it\u2019s enforced \u2013 through forced abortion, forced sterilization and infanticide.\u00a0 The coercive enforcement of China\u2019s One Child Policy causes more violence against women and girls than any other official policy on earth.\u00a0 It is the largest women\u2019s rights issue in the world today, affecting one out of every five women in the world.\u00a0 Whether you are pro-life or pro-choice on this issue, no one supports forced abortion, because it is not a choice.<\/p>\n

The One Child Policy causes violence against women and girls in the following ways:<\/p>\n

First, forced abortion is violent.\u00a0 Women are literally dragged out of their homes.\u00a0 These forced abortions can happen up the ninth month of pregnancy.\u00a0 Sometimes the women themselves die.<\/p>\n

This is picture of Liu Dan.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 After the forced abortion, she lay alone and unconscious in an operating room in the family planning center.\u00a0 Sensing something was wrong, her fianc\u00e9 burst into the room at 3:00 a.m. to find her bleeding from the eyes, nose, ears and mouth.\u00a0 Even so, the family planning police refused to call for emergency help, until her family insisted.\u00a0 Help arrived too late.\u00a0 Liu Dan died, along with her full term baby.<\/p>\n

I believe that forced abortion as it is practiced in China is official government rape.\u00a0 It is the violent, state sanctioned penetration of a woman to destroy her bodily integrity.\u00a0 A victim of forced abortion, like a victim of rape, is traumatized physically, emotionally and spiritually.\u00a0 She will never be the same again.\u00a0 Forced abortion tramples on the human dignity of women.\u00a0 Any discussion of women\u2019s rights, of human rights, or of human dignity, would be a charade if forced abortion in China is not front and center.\u00a0 Rather, the Chinese Communist Party’s forced abortion policy is systematic, institutionalized violence against wom\"\"<\/a>en.<\/p>\n

[Note:\u00a0 To view the video, “Stop Forced Abortion in China!” click here.\u00a0 http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=JjtuBcJUsjY<\/span><\/a>.]<\/p>\n

Forced sterilization is also violent and can lead to life-long health complications.<\/p>\n

Regarding infanticide, read the chilling document called \u201cBest Practices \u2013 Infanticide.\u201d\u00a0 It\u2019s 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.\u00a0 [Note:\u00a0 To read this document, click here.\u00a0 http:\/\/www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org\/index.php?nav=congressional<\/a>.]<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Because of the traditional preference for boys, girls are selectively aborted, resulting in the snuffing out of little female lives.\u00a0 It is estimated that there are 100 million women and girls missing in the world today due to sex selective abortion.\u00a0 This is called gendercide, the sex-selective abortion of baby girls.<\/p>\n

Because of this gendercide, there are an estimate 37 million more men than women living in China today\u00a0 — 37 million frustrated men who will never marry because their future wives were aborted before they were born.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n

China has the highest female suicide rate in the world.\u00a0 According to the World Health Organization, 500 women end their lives every day in China.\u00a0 I don\u2019t think that the despair that leads to suicide is unrelated to the coercive enforcement of the One Child Policy.<\/p>\n

Forced abortion.\u00a0 Forced sterilization.\u00a0 Infanticide.\u00a0 Gendercide.\u00a0 Sexual slavery.\u00a0 Suicide.\u00a0 These are the unintended consequences of the One Child Policy.<\/p>\n

Not only are the women themselves persecuted, but those who stand up for them are persecuted as well.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 Chen exposed the fact that there were 130,000 forced abortions and sterilizations in Linyi County in 2005.\u00a0 For this he was jailed for four years and three months, tortured, and denied medical treatment.\u00a0 Last month a video featuring Chen Guangcheng was leaked to the West.\u00a0 The next day Chen and his wife, Yuan Weijing, were \u201cbeaten senseless\u201d in retaliation for the release of the video.\u00a0 They were denied medical treatment.\u00a0 Women\u2019s Rights Without Frontiers calls for the immediate, unconditional release from house arrest of Chen Guangcheng and his family, and for urgent medical treatment.\u00a0 Those in China cannot criticize the One Child Policy without putting themselves and their families at risk.\u00a0 [Note: To sign a petition to Free Chen Guangcheng, click here: http:\/\/www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org\/<\/a>.<\/span>]<\/p>\n

In China, a woman\u2019s body is not her own.\u00a0 It belongs to the state.\u00a0 A woman\u2019s womb is the most intimate part of her body \u2013 physically, emotionally and spiritually. For the Chinese Communist Party to force its bloody hand right into a woman\u2019s womb and crush the life inside her is a heinous crime against humanity.\u00a0 It must be stopped. [Note:\u00a0 To sign a petition to stop forced abortion in China, click here:\u00a0 http:\/\/www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org\/index.php?nav=sign_our_petition<\/a>.<\/span>]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reggie Littlejohn, President of Women’s Rights Without Frontiers and expert on China\u2019s One Child Policy for the China Aid Association (Midland, Texas) and Human Rights Without Frontiers (Brussels, Belgium), spoke on the topic,\u00a0 “Coerced Abortion in ‘Sexual and Reproductive Rights’ … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"yes","footnotes":""},"categories":[22,29,10,5,14,30,37,26,7,16,15,36,6,27,18,17,21,24,28,8,34,33,38,20,32,31,35,19,25,23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-128","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-abortion","category-brussels","category-chen-guangcheng","category-china","category-china-aid-association","category-coerced-abortion","category-crime-against-humanity","category-european-parliament","category-forced-abortion","category-forced-sterilization","category-gendercide","category-human-dignity","category-human-rights","category-human-rights-without-frontiers","category-human-trafficking","category-infanticide","category-international-womens-day","category-life","category-london","category-one-child-policy","category-pro-choice","category-pro-life","category-rape","category-reggie-littlejohn","category-reproductive-health","category-reproductive-rights","category-right-to-choose","category-sexual-slavery","category-women","category-womens-rights"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=128"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":136,"href":"https:\/\/www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128\/revisions\/136"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=128"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=128"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=128"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}