Saturday 5 February 2011

Don't let China's president get away with denial of its forced abortion policy

President Hu with US president Obama
Last month Hu Jintao, the Chinese president, made a state visit to the United States. LifeSiteNews.com reports that during the visit, a congresswoman urged China to end its forced abortion policy. Mr Hu responded by saying that such a policy does not exist. Steven Mosher, president of the pro-life organisation the Population Research Institute (PRI), described Mr Hu's denial as a "bald-faced lie". Also, in a recent PRI briefing, Mr Mosher said that abortion centres which he visited in China last year were very similar to the nightmarish abortion centres run by Dr Kermit Gosnell, the arrest Pennsylvania abortionist.

Mr Hu's denial is easily exploded by even just a few references (see SPUC's 2004 parliamentary submission):
  • In 1979 Chinese Vice-Premier Chen Muhua described the one-child policy as: "A policy of encouragement and punishment for maternity, with encouragement as the main feature, will be implemented. Parents having one child will be encouraged, and strict measures will be enforced to control the birth of two or more babies."
  • The 1992 Law of the People's Republic of China on the Protection of Women's Rights and the Interests of Women says: "When a wife terminates gestation as required by the family planning programme, her husband may not apply for a divorce within six months after the operation" (article 42)
  • the 2001 forced abortion drive in Huaiji county, Guangdong
  • the 2002 Law on Population and Birth Planning says: "Citizens . . . are also duty-bound undergo family planning as provided for in the law." (article 17) in order to "uphold a single-child policy for married couples" (article 18)
  • the 2009 forced abortion drive in Guangzhou. Reuters quotes Zhang Minan, a law professor at Guangzhou's Sun Yat-sen University and an expert on the issue, saying:"'They (the authorities) do have the right (to force abortions) ... "
  • the testimony of the victims: e.g. Mao Hengfeng, Zhang Linla
Both the UK and US governments bankroll China's population control programme tens of millions of pounds worth of annual funding for pro-abortion organisations working closely with the Communist regime: the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) and Marie Stopes International (MSI).

Readers should write to the Chinese embassy to call for an end to China's population control programme, citing the evidence of forced abortion as a regular part of the programme:
Ambassador Liu Xiaoming
Embassy of the People's Republic of China
49 Portland Place , London W1B 1JL
political@chinese-embassy.org.uk