China Responds to Global Outcry Over Forced Abortion and Suspends Family Planning Officials
Posted on | June 15, 2012 by Lisa Correnti |
BusinessWeek is reporting that the family planning officials responsible for the forced abortion of 23 year old Feng Jianmei were suspended, according to a statement on the Ankang government website. Photos of Feng in the hospital with her aborted 7-month child laying beside her sparked outrage among the Chinese people and globally. Feng’s husband reported that due to being unable to pay the fine for violating the one-child policy “local officials detained Feng, blindfolded her then forced her to sign an agreement to have the abortion.”
From the article:
The investigation was prompted by outrage online over photos that showed the woman lying next to her aborted fetus and methods used by local officials to control population growth in China. Yesterday, Vice Mayor Du Shouping visited Feng and her family at a hospital to ask for forgiveness, according to a separate statement posted on Ankang’s website today.
The forced abortion in Ankang “would have been seen as normal in the past and shows how far society has changed,” Wang Feng, the Beijing-based director of the Brookings-Tsinghua Center for Public Policy, said by phone. “The Internet exposure of the case, including the posts and the photos, played a great role in the government’s fast response.”In Ankang, two local family planning officials and one with the local government were suspended, according to the statement.
