September 25 marks the 30th anniversary of the Chinese One Child Policy.
Affecting 1.3 billion people, it is the most massive, systematic human rights
atrocity in history. It doesn’t matter whether you are pro-choice or
pro-life on this issue. No one supports forced abortion, because it’s not
a choice.

On September 25, 1980, the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party
sent its open letter to party members setting forth its plan to control the
population. The letter states that the new Policy would be temporary, lasting
30 years.

Liping grew up under the One Child Policy in Henan Province, yet she had no
concept of its true brutality until she became one of its victims. At age
23 she was seven months’ pregnant with a baby she and her family very much
wanted. Although this was her first pregnancy, she did not possess a
government-issued birth permit. She was walking down the street one day
and was stopped by family planning officials, beaten and dragged to a
hospital. There she was roped to a sickbed and forced to abort.
When she cried for help, the hospital staff beat her again. Although her baby
had received a poison injection to the skull during labor, it “cried mournfully
for some minutes, and later the crying ceased.” When the nurse told
Liping that her baby was dead, she fainted. When she regained
consciousness, “there was a doctor standing by my bed and asking for money to
‘get rid of the fetus’ body.’ I said I had no money and so they just used
a plastic bag to wrap my baby and put it beside me.” She concluded, “I
could not imagine that I would be deprived of my human rights like this in a
society ruled by law.”

Liping’s story is not isolated. Forced abortion, forced sterilization
and infanticide are all too common in present-day China. Here are some of
the ways in which the coercive enforcement of the One Child Policy results in violence
against women and girls:

1) Forced abortion is traumatic to women. It is a
form of torture.

2) In China, sex-selective abortion and infanticide
are common. Because of the traditional preference for boys, most of the
aborted fetuses and murdered babies are girls. According to a recent study
published in the British Medical Journal, the overall sex ratio for China is
120 boys for every 100 girls. Nine provinces had ratios of over 160 boys for
every 100 girls, for second children, where the first child is a girl. The
article stated, “Sex selective abortion accounts for almost all the excess
males.” This practice constitutes “gendercide.”

3) Because of this gendercide, there are an
estimated 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.

4) 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. According to the World Health Organization, approximately 500 women
a day end their lives in China. Could this extraordinary suicide rate be
related to coercive family planning??

5) Women who have violated the policy are often
forcibly sterilized. Forced sterilization is a serious human rights abuse and
can lead to life-long health complications.

To see a dozen expert reports documenting of these practices, including
Liping’s full story told in her own words, visit http://www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org/index.php?nav=congressional.

Although it was meant to be temporary, China’s One Child Policy will not end
any time soon. In March, 2008, China’s top family planning official
stated that the One Child Policy would not end for at least a decade. As
recently as January 19, 2010, Vice Premier Li Keqiang stated that “China
would continue to pursue a low birth rate.”

For the Chinese Communist Party to function as “womb police,”
wielding the very power of life and death over the people of China is a
terrible violation of both women’s rights and human rights. After 30 years of
such a legacy, one thing is clear: it is time for the international community
to rise up for women like Liping. To sign a petition against forced abortion in
China, click here: http://www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org/index.php?nav=sign_our_petition

SEE REGGIE LITTLEJOHN’S INTERVIEW ON VOICE OF AMERICA –

Reggie Littlejohn was interview on Voice of America –
The interview was broadcast into China, Taiwan and Hong Kong on September 23, 2010

http://www.voanews.com/chinese/news/

###
Reggie Littlejohn is President of Women’s Rights Without Frontiers, a
non-partisan, international coalition to oppose forced abortion and sexual
slavery in China. As an expert on China’s One Child Policy for Human Rights
Without Frontiers and China Aid, she has delivered an address at the European
Parliament in Brussels, briefed the White House and testified before Congress
(the United States Congressional Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission). She has
spoken at the Harvard Law School, Stanford Law School, George Washington
University, and The Heritage Foundation. A graduate of Yale Law School, Ms.
Littlejohn has represented Chinese refugees in their political asylum cases in
the United States. Website: http://www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org/

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About Reggie Littlejohn

Reggie Littlejohn is President of Women’s
Rights Without Frontiers, a non-partisan, international coalition to
oppose forced abortion and sexual slavery in China. As an expert on China’s One Child Policy
for Human Rights Without Frontiers and China Aid, she has delivered an address
at the European Parliament in Brussels, briefed the White House and testified
before Congress (the United States Congressional Tom Lantos Human Rights
Commission). She has spoken at the Harvard Law School, Stanford Law
School, George Washington University, and The Heritage Foundation. A graduate of
Yale Law School, Ms. Littlejohn has represented Chinese refugees in their
political asylum cases in the United States.

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