The Laogai Research Foundation, Women’s Rights Without Frontiers and Women’s Rights in China teamed up to testify before the United States Congressional Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission on Tuesday. In addition, they have written the following letter to President Obama, challenging him to raise the issue of forced abortion during his to China next week.

 

Dear President Obama:

 

Most people know that China has a One Child Policy. But do they stop to think about what happens to a woman when she violates that policy?

 

As you may know, we are among those who testified concerning the One Child Policy before the U.S. Congressional Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission on Tuesday. As you travel to Asia today, we are writing to let you know that China’s One Child Policy causes more violence against women and girls than any other official policy on earth. This is not a political issue. It’s a human rights issue and a women’s rights issue. On April 22 of this year, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton condemned forced abortion and forced sterilization in China, saying that they are “absolutely unacceptable.” It does not matter whether you are pro-choice or pro-life on this issue. No one supports forced abortion, because it is not a choice.

 

When we say, “forced abortion,” what do we mean? At the hearing on Tuesday, we heard the heart-wrenching testimony of “Wujuan” (not her real name) who was a victim of China’s One Child Policy in 2005. Wujuan went into hiding when she became pregnant because she did not have a birth permit. In a little shack without electricity or running water, she brought her pregnancy to term. A neighbor found her to say that her father-in-law was being beaten daily and might soon die if she didn’t give herself up for a forced abortion. She was caught in a terrible choice: the life of her father-in-law, or the life of her baby. As she agonized about this, the Family Planning Police discovered her hiding place, broke into her shack, and dragged her out for a forced abortion. When the oxytocin injection failed to induce labor, they forced her onto an operating table and cut her fetus to pieces with scissors. Wujuan’s heart was broken and she wished that she were dead. When the dismemberment was complete, the doctor took tweezers and showed Wujuan the tiny, bloody foot of what once was her child. The doctor then dumped the rest of the small body into the trash can. Wujuan says that a part of her died forever at that moment.

 

President Obama, this must be stopped! You have just won the Nobel Peace Prize. We call upon you to truly represent America to the Chinese government by standing up for women’s rights in China and demanding an end to these barbarous practices. Also, you are a father. We remember your moving words during your campaign for President, when you talked about holding your baby girls in your arms and promising to protect and provide for them. The men and women of China are having this joy ripped out of their arms and their hearts.

 

There are many ways in which the One Child Policy causes violence against women and girls. 

 

1)    Forced abortion and forced sterilization are traumatic to women. Doctors and cadres are motivated by monetary incentives for meeting abortion quotas.

 

2)    The “Three Examinations,” in which women are forcibly monitored for the use of contraceptive rings, pregnancy, and illness, is hostile and abhorrent to women.

 

3)    Because of the traditional preference for boys, sex-selective abortion is common and most of the aborted fetuses are girls, a form of “gendercide.”

4)    Because of this gendercide, there are than 37 million more men than women in China today.   This gender imbalance is a major force driving sexual trafficking of women and girls in Asia.

5)    China has the highest female suicide rate of any country in the world. It is the only nation in which more women than men kill themselves – approximately 500 women a day. This high suicide rate is likely related to coercive family planning.

The only logically and morally consistent position for the pro-choice movement is to oppose forced abortion, because it is not a choice. President Obama, we call upon you to challenge the Chinese Communist Party on the coercive implementation of its One Child Policy. The Tiananmen Square massacre has come and gone, and there’s nothing we can do to bring those lives back.  But there is something we can do about the brutal violence against millions of women and girls because of forced abortion in China. As Speaker Nancy Pelosi stated at a recent event honoring the Dalai Lama, “If we do not stand for human rights in China, we lose the moral authority to stand for anything else.”

 

Harry Wu, Laogai Research Foundation
Reggie Littlejohn, Women’s Rights Without Frontiers

Jing Zhang and Chai Ling, Women’s Rights in China