While we argue over whether to allow late-term abortions here in the U.S., a young mother in China has been forced to have an abortion at seven months. 25-year-old Feng Jianmei faced an unthinkable choice: Pay a fee, the equivalent of four years' of her husband's salary, or abort her baby. In the end she had no choice. She was abducted by 20 officials and given an injection that killed her baby girl.
The event was so traumatic, Feng's husband Deng Ji Yuan says, that she tried to slit her wrists. The Chinese government has apologized and three officials have been suspended. But that's not going to bring Feng's baby back. And it's a feeble response to such a horrible act.
Feng and her husband Deng Ji Yuan already had a young daughter. According to Chinese law, urban families can only have one child while rural families may have two children. Feng actually lived in a rural area, but she hadn't registered after moving from the city. It didn't matter to Chinese Family Planning authorities.
And it also didn't matter to them that Feng's family was actually scrambling to gather enough money to pay the fee. Family Planning didn't wait. But the fee itself is ridiculous. You know what that fee means? If you're wealthy enough you can buy you way to a second or third baby. In China, only the rich have a real choice about how many children they have.
Another family almost met the same fate as Feng and Deng. Cao Ruyi was five months pregnant when Family Planning sent her to the hospital for a forced abortion. Fortunately Feng's story had alerted world-wide attention. Pressure groups flooded Chinese authorities and Cao was released, still pregnant -- for now. But she still faces a deadline. Pay the outrageous "social burden" fee or abort her baby. It's like a sick gangster threat.
To me, Feng and Cao's stories are the flip side of the choice debate. As a mother who supports a woman's right to choose I am every bit as outraged over Feng's forced abortion as I am over American women who are forced to carry a baby to full term against their will -- and especially when doing so puts their health at risk.
You can see the horrific image of Feng with her aborted baby lying next to her. But do you really want to? I wish I hadn't. Several groups are trying to help Cao Ruyi. I don't know if any of them are legit, but the Cao Ruyi Facebook page can give you a few leads. Congressman Chris Smith (R, NJ) has reportedly called upon the Chinese government to stop these practices.
Do you think the Chinese government might change its one-child laws someday?
Image via heydrienne/Flickr
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Comments 76
The rules are clearly spelt out in China; to have a second child, you live in a rural area, pay the fine, or be a member of a registered minority ethnic group. Break the law, suffer the consequences. Thousands of Chinese families saved for their second child and played by the rules, or, they adopted a Chinese baby which is not subjected to one child rules. Not fair to them.
My wife's family worked very hard to rise from famine victims to the 1%, why should they have to pay more in China taxes to support families who flagrantly break the laws and rub it in peoples faces?
China haters whine about China warmongering but it is our country that's spending $30 billion plus for a full military mobilization towards China. And it was American executives that sent American jobs to China with a big smile on their faces, generous tax write offs, and laughing all the way to the bank, not China.
@cocobeannns i find it indeed very offensive what you said many woman are forced to do these things are they get killed or abused it's the governmentthat fails not these woman
but i do agree that lots of chinese people are just sick but in this case the mom obviously didn't want this!
They only acquiesced on the second mom, because of pressure on US trade relations. It's all about the money. They do what they want, but we discover some pesky plastic baby formula they exported, or such; an example is made of a CEO that gets beheaded or just 'disappears.' And then they go back to doing what they want again. We are getting what we deserve if we continue to do business with China.
I can't wait to see the Olympic opening ceremony in London. It will help erase the horrifying image of the synchronized, color-coded show that many thought was 'SO clever' but whose 'uniformity' I found sickening and appalling.