{"id":2361,"date":"2016-11-02T23:38:36","date_gmt":"2016-11-02T23:38:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org\/blog\/?p=2361"},"modified":"2019-03-28T02:55:34","modified_gmt":"2019-03-28T02:55:34","slug":"chinese-family-hides-to-escape-forced-abortion-of-third-child","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org\/blog\/chinese-family-hides-to-escape-forced-abortion-of-third-child\/","title":{"rendered":"Chinese Family Hides to Escape Forced Abortion of Third Child"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a triumph of investigative journalism, the BBC has released a Report, \u201c<\/span>China\u2019s forbidden babies still an issue<\/span><\/a>,\u201d confirming that under the Two-Child Policy, forced abortion remains a threat for women pregnant with a third child.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

In this Report, <\/span>John Sudworth<\/a>, the BBC\u2019s Beijing Correspondent, interviews the father of a family in hiding because his wife has just given birth to their third child.\u00a0 The Report describes the man as \u201canxious and on edge, but still determined to tell his story.\u201d\u00a0 The father told the BBC, \u201cA third baby is not allowed, so we are renting a home away from our village.\u00a0 The local government carries out pregnancy examinations every three months.\u00a0 If we weren\u2019t in hiding, they would have forced us to have an abortion.\u201d\u00a0 <\/b>(Emphasis added.)<\/span><\/p>\n

The family was able to escape forced abortion by going into hiding, but when they come out, they will face a fine that could be as large as ten times their annual salary.\u00a0 \u201cWe don\u2019t have the money for the fine.\u00a0\u00a0 We just don\u2019t know what to do,\u201d the father told the BBC.\u00a0 He does not, however, regret his decision.\u00a0 \u201cWhen I look at our new baby, I feel happy.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The adjustment from one child to two children per couple took place one year ago last week.\u00a0 To mark this anniversary, Sudworth aimed to discover what this policy shift means in practice.\u00a0 \u201cAnd what we have discovered,\u201d he concludes, \u201csuggests that the brutal machinery of enforcement is still in place along with the Chinese state\u2019s insistence on the right of control over women\u2019s wombs.\u201d\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

Reggie Littlejohn, President of <\/span>Women\u2019s Rights Without Frontiers<\/a>, stated:\u00a0 \u201cThis powerful report confirms what I have been saying all along:\u00a0 the new two-child policy will not end forced abortion.\u00a0 As blind activist Chen Guangcheng succinctly tweeted:<\/span><\/p>\n

This [new two-child policy] is nothing to be happy about. First the\u00a0#CCP<\/span>\u00a0would kill any baby after one. Now they will kill any baby after two.\u00a0 #ChinaOneChildPolicy<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cUnder the Two-Child Policy, a woman\u2019s body remains in the domain of the State,\u201d Littlejohn continued.\u00a0 \u201cThe entire infrastructure of coercion remains in force, with forced pregnancy examinations every three to six months.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMy heart goes out to this family, compelled to go into hiding, becoming fugitives, all to avoid the forced abortion of their third child.\u00a0\u00a0 They are caught between the joy of holding their new baby in their arms and the fear of what will happen to them when they come out of hiding, since they cannot pay the fine.\u00a0 Who knows whether they will lose their jobs as well, becoming destitute \u2013 all this to give birth to their children, which is a human right.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sudworth also visited the local family planning center, where he asked a senior official whether forced abortions had been carried out in the operating rooms there.\u00a0 The official replied, \u201cVery few,\u201d and then added, none for \u201cat least 10 years.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sudworth reflected, \u201cWhere else in the world would you find a government official admitting that his colleagues have kidnapped, drugged and forcibly operated on women, no matter how long ago?\u00a0 Where else would the qualifier \u2018very few\u2019 be considered an acceptable alternative to an outright denial?\u201d<\/p>\n

Sudworth\u2019s colleague then called several family planning centers and spoke to officials at random.\u00a0 She pretended to be pregnant with her third child and asked how she might keep it.\u00a0 All the officials stated that she would have to pay a fine.\u00a0 Such fines can reach ten times a person\u2019s annual income.\u00a0 Inability to pay such fines has led many women to abort a child they would otherwise want.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Beyond this, some of the officials went further, \u201cengaging in coercive home visits with the aim of \u2018persuading\u2019 women to have abortions,\u201d according to the BBC Report. One official told Sudworth\u2019s colleague, \u201cIf you\u2019re reported to us, then we\u2019ll find you and we\u2019ll persuade you not to give birth to that baby.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 Another official said, \u201cWe\u2019ll definitely find you and persuade you to do an abortion.\u201d\u00a0 When asked if a woman could have a third child and then pay the fine, a third official stated, \u201cNo.\u00a0 You just can\u2019t.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Littlejohn continued, \u201cThe official\u2019s statement, \u2018If you\u2019re reported to us . . .\u2019 indicates that the system of informants remains under the two-child policy.\u00a0\u00a0 \u2018Illegally pregnant\u2019 women have been reported to family planning police by their neighbors, co-workers, supervisors and people in their villages who are paid just to watch women to see if anyone looks pregnant.\u00a0 The official\u2019s statement, \u2018If you\u2019re reported to us . . .\u2019 indicates that this Orwellian system of informants remains in place under the two-child policy.<\/span><\/p>\n

Littlejohn said further, \u201cThe statement by the officials, \u2018. . . we\u2019ll definitely find you and persuade you to do an abortion\u2019 indicates that the Chinese government continues to conduct search and destroy missions, searching for \u2018illegally pregnant\u2019 women to destroy their desperately wanted babies.\u00a0 This happened to <\/span>Feng Jianmei<\/a> and Wujian<\/a>, both of whom were dragged out of hiding and forcibly aborted.\u00a0 And what does the word \u2018persuade\u2019 mean here?\u00a0 Does it mean <\/span>forcing a woman to ink her fingerprint<\/a> on a consent document, like they did to Feng Jianmei<\/a>?<\/p>\n

\u201cI applaud the brilliant investigative journalism of John Sudworth and his colleague, and the courage of the BBC to publish his Report,\u201d concluded Littlejohn.\u00a0 \u201cIt is extremely difficult to find people willing to speak to the western media about the continuation of forced abortion in China, because of harsh retaliation of the Chinese government against them personally and their families.\u00a0 The story of this courageous couple in hiding deserves to be told the world over.\u00a0 This is investigative reporting at its best.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Sign a petition against forced abortion<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Watch a 4-minute video, Stop Forced Abortion, China\u2019s War on Women<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a triumph of investigative journalism, the BBC has released a Report, \u201cChina\u2019s forbidden babies still an issue,\u201d confirming that under the Two-Child Policy, forced abortion remains a threat for women pregnant with a third child.\u00a0 In this Report, John … 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":[188,7,189,8,20,123,1,55],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2361","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bbc","category-forced-abortion","category-john-sudworth","category-one-child-policy","category-reggie-littlejohn","category-two-child-policy","category-uncategorized","category-womens-rights-without-frontiers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2361","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=2361"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2361\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2828,"href":"https:\/\/www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2361\/revisions\/2828"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2361"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2361"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2361"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}