{"id":2348,"date":"2016-10-20T17:50:52","date_gmt":"2016-10-20T17:50:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org\/blog\/?p=2348"},"modified":"2019-03-28T02:55:57","modified_gmt":"2019-03-28T02:55:57","slug":"presidential-debate-clinton-wrong-on-forced-abortion-in-china","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org\/blog\/presidential-debate-clinton-wrong-on-forced-abortion-in-china\/","title":{"rendered":"Presidential Debate: Clinton WRONG on Forced Abortion in China"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the Presidential debate against Donald Trump last night, Hillary Clinton made the following statement:\u00a0 I\u2019ve been to countries where governments either forced women to have abortions, like they used to do in China . . . <\/strong>(emphasis added).<\/p>\n

See, Trump, Clinton Spar Over Late-Term Abortions (at 1:00-1:05)
\nhttp:\/\/video.foxnews.com\/v\/5177606697001\/trump-clinton-spar-over-late-term-abortions\/?#sp=show-clips<\/a><\/p>\n

Reggie Littlejohn, President of Women\u2019s Rights Without Frontiers, stated, \u201cWith all her experience as former Secretary of State, it is untrue and deeply disappointing for Hillary Clinton to put the Chinese government\u2019s practice of forced abortion in the past. If she thinks that China no longer forces women to abort babies, she should explain that to a couple, surnamed Zhong, who in August of this year were forced to choose between an abortion at eight months<\/a> or the loss of both of their government jobs.\u00a0\u00a0 Or she should inform He Liping, who was forced either to pay an impossible \u201cterror fine\u201d of $39,000 or face abortion at six months.<\/p>\n

\u201cOr perhaps she should read the May 4, 2016, BBC article entitled \u2018Reinventing China\u2019s Abortion Police,\u2019 which discusses a small collaborative project by Stanford University and Shaanxi Normal University to repurpose 69 Family Planning Officials — apparently on the assumption that they are no longer needed now that China has moved to a two-child policy.\u201d The article follows one Family Planning Official, Li Bo, who has been \u201creinvented\u201d from \u201chunt[ing] down families suspected of violating the country\u2019s draconian rules on how many children couples can have\u201d into a rubber duckie squeezing, nursery rhyme singing \u201cChinese Father Christmas,\u201d complete with \u201ca bag full of toys and picture books.\u201d<\/p>\n

Has his job really been \u201creinvented,\u201d or is he really a member of the womb police, masquerading as \u201cChinese Father Christmas\u201d — the new face of China\u2019s Family Planning Police? Buried deep in the article is the following account of the dark side of Li Bo\u2019s job \u2013 an important piece of original reporting by the BBC:<\/p>\n

Since the start of 2016, all Chinese couples have been allowed two children. But they can have no more than that unless they are from ethnic minorities \u2013 so Li Bo still spends some of his time working as a birth-control enforcer. In the town\u2019s health clinic he is busy screening local women. All women of childbearing age have check-ups four times a year to ensure they\u2019re healthy . . . and to see if they are pregnant. . . But Li is also a loyal Communist party official who believes the state knows best and society\u2019s needs are greater than those of individuals. So he is matter-of-fact about the unpleasant task of telling women who couldn\u2019t afford the fine to terminate their pregnancies. \u201cPeople didn\u2019t swear at us but they probably did behind our backs,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s natural because we were carrying out the law and they were breaking it so it is just like the clash between a policeman and a thief.\u201d He adds that as long as restrictions are in place, such clashes will continue.<\/p>\n

From these words, uttered by a Chinese Communist Family Planning Official, we learn that:<\/p>\n