Another courageous article from Shanghai online news portal Sixth Tone describes the continued desperation of re-married women in Guangdong.<\/p>\n
\u00a0Six months pregnant, Anxiang and her husband were forced to choose between aborting her pregnancy or losing their government jobs, because they had violated China\u2019s new Two-Child Policy.\u00a0 They had thought that they were allowed to have another child, but were caught in an omission regarding remarried women in Guangdong Province.\u00a0 At the end of July, they were told to abort, or face fines and dismissal.<\/p>\n
\u00a0Because it was too late in the pregnancy to abort via medication or suction, Anxiang (not her real name) had to abort via induction.\u00a0 On August 1, she had an injection to terminate her daughter.\u00a0 Two days later, she was induced and went through labor in order to deliver the still-born child.\u00a0 The next day she sent a heartbreaking message to the WeChat group of remarried couples in Guangdong.\u00a0 \u201cI saw my daughter.\u00a0 She didn\u2019t move.\u00a0 She was dead.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0Reggie Littlejohn, President of\u00a0Women\u2019s Rights Without Frontiers,<\/a>\u00a0stated, \u201cOur hearts go out to Anxiang and her husband.\u00a0 Although Anxiang was not physically dragged out of her home for an abortion, this abortion was nevertheless coerced.\u00a0 You can force someone through physical coercion or financial coercion.\u00a0 Any abortion against the will of the mother is forced.\u00a0 The fact that her pregnancy would have been allowed in other provinces but not in Guangdong is further evidence of the lack of uniformity in the enforcement of China\u2019s population control policies.\u00a0 It is the tyranny of the arbitrary.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0Another member of the WeChat group, Lin Jing, was devastated when she read Anxiang\u2019s message.\u00a0 She told Sixth Tone, \u201cI was frightened to see that one mother aborted her pregnancy under the pressure, knowing that others might follow.\u201d \u00a0Lin\u2019s husband brought a child into their marriage.\u00a0 It was his second marriage and her first.\u00a0 They soon had a daughter of their own.\u00a0 When the Chinese Communist Party announced the Two-Child Policy, it never occurred to her that she and her husband might be excluded under the laws of Guangdong, because this would be his third child.\u00a0 She learned she was pregnant in January, 2016.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u201cI am 38 years old and my husband is 48 years old.\u00a0 It could be our last chance,\u201d she said.\u00a0 Since she does not know whether her pregnancy is legal, she is not eligible for insurance coverage, pregnancy leave or prenatal care.\u00a0 She hid the pregnancy for as long as she could, traveling hours for checkups in a distant city, wearing heels to her job as a schoolteacher instead of flats.\u00a0 She is grateful to have the summer off but dreads returning to school in September, during her third trimester.<\/p>\n \u00a0Trying to gain clarity on whether their pregnancies are legal, she and other members of the WeChat group for remarried pregnant women converged on the Guangdong provincial government offices with a petition to legalize their pregnancies.\u00a0 Their petition was denied.\u00a0 In tears, Lin told Sixth Tone, \u201cThey told us we deliberately broke the law.\u00a0 They thought we\u2019d just come to make trouble.\u201d<\/p>\n Lin does not know how her employer will react in September, but she remains at risk.\u00a0 She stated, \u201cNo policy has come out on paper.\u00a0 We still don\u2019t have the protection of law.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0Littlejohn continued, \u201cPregnancy is natural and innocent.\u00a0\u00a0 That the Chinese Communist Party would treat pregnant women as criminals and tell them they \u2018deliberately broke the law\u2019 by becoming pregnant is madness.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0A third woman in the WeChat group, Su, had prepared to terminate her pregnancy at seven months at the end of July.\u00a0 She and her husband were required by their employer to sign a statement that they would terminate her pregnancy if the Guangdong government had not released a statement by the end of July.\u00a0 Because of media pressure, the Guangdong government released a statement on August 2.\u00a0 Su was allowed to keep her baby, but Guangdong has not yet adopted a clear law allowing married couples to have two children, even if the second child in the marriage would be the third child of one or both of the spouses.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u201cWe are grateful that Su was allowed to keep her baby,\u201d Littlejohn continued.\u00a0 \u201cWe continue to condemn the Chinese government\u2019s iron grip over women\u2019s wombs, playing God, declaring life or death over desperately wanted babies.\u00a0 Su\u2019s case \u00a0shows that employers are also at fault in pressuring women to abort or lose their jobs.\u00a0 It also demonstrates the power of the media to effectuate positive change.\u00a0 The courageous, investigative reporting by Sixth Tone is all the more remarkable because it is a state-controlled media outlet.\u00a0 I believe they are representative of a growing dissatisfaction within the Chinese government with a policy that has long out-lasted it utility and stands as a brutal symbol of the failure of Communism to protect the rights of the people.\u201d<\/p>\n Related Links<\/u><\/p>\n Guangdong Families Told to Have Abortions or Lose Job, July 22, 2016\u00a0http:\/\/www.sixthtone.com\/news\/ guangdong-families-told-have-a bortion-or-lose-job<\/a><\/p>\n Pregnant Women Can\u2019t Keep Waiting for Two-Child Policy , August 9, 2016\u00a0http:\/\/www.sixthtone.com\/news\/ pregnant-women-cant-keep-waiti ng-two-child-policy<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0Chinese Government Sources Admit Forced Abortion Continues Under Two-Child Policy August 9, 2016\u00a0http:\/\/www.womensrightswithout frontiers.org\/blog\/chinese-gov ernment-sources-admit-forced-a bortion-continues-under-two-ch ild-policy\/<\/a><\/p>\n Couples Not Waiting for Two Child Policy, August 3, 2016\u00a0 \u00a0http:\/\/www.womenofchina.cn\/wo menofchina\/html1\/features\/Spot light\/1608\/372-1.htm<\/a><\/p>\n Sign our petition against forced abortion in China!\u00a0http:\/\/www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org\/blog\/sign-our-petition\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Another courageous article from Shanghai online news portal Sixth Tone describes the continued desperation of re-married women in Guangdong. \u00a0Six months pregnant, Anxiang and her husband were forced to choose between aborting her pregnancy or losing their government jobs, because … Continue reading