China To End Forced Late-Term Abortions and Sterilizations?
Posted on | September 14, 2012 by Lisa Correnti |
Human rights group All Girls Allowed is reporting that the Chinese government issued a document to state-run Family Planning offices ending the practice of forced abortions and sterilizations on women that are found pregnant in violation of China’s one-child policy.
All Girls Allowed called a family planning officer in Chongqing to verify that China did in fact suspend forced abortions and sterilizations. ”A committee member confirmed that they had issued an order on August 30th prohibiting forced sterilization and banning the use of late-term abortions to enforce the policy.”
What the officer in Chongqing said was incredible. Not only did they ban forced abortion, but the change came from the top down: “Earlier the government issued a document to all the family planning committees,” he said. “Everyone has received it.”
Recent reports and photos of women subjected to coerced abortions for failing to pay the “social compensation” fine outraged Chinese citizens and the International community and mobilized human rights activists.
Just last week Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng urged Apple, Inc to use their influence to end the human rights abuses that occur in China from enforcement of the one-child policy.
A coalition of human rights groups that work to end the abuse of pregnant women in China filed a complaint with the United Nations to investigate China’s family planning law.
The complaint calls “for an investigation into 17 cases of Chinese families who say they were subjected to abuses such as forced abortion, forced sterilization, human trafficking and baby selling under China’s one-child policy.”
I am grateful for Chen Guangcheng’s advocacy, Congressman Chris Smith’s (R-NJ) faithful three-decade fight against forced abortion in China, for Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) and Mitt Romney’s calls for the end of the One-Child Policy, and for the open condemnation of the One-Child Policy in the Republican party platform.
