Ted Turner: China a Good Example of Population Control, Despite Forced Abortions
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
May 8, 2009
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — Billionaire broadcast magnate Ted Turner is causing guffaws from observers with his latest comment on family planning in China. He lauded the Asian nation for its population control program and said it was a good example even though it is rife with forced abortions and sterilizations.
During an interview with the Diane Rehm Show gave China as a model for how to handle growing populations.
“We do have the example of China, and they’ve done it without, uh, draconian, as far as I can see, draconian steps," he said.
Observers of the quote are surprised that Rehm let it go unchallenged and without any mention of the human rights abuses that accompany the Chinese family planning program.
The policy has resulted in epidemics of forced abortions and sterilizations and human rights abuses ranging from job loss and imprisonment to house arrest and threatening family members.
In fact, new reports show the forced abortions have resulted in high infertility rates forced abortions. A new report indicates that has sparked infertility and given rise to an underground network of surrogate mothers.
Now, family planning authorities are cracking down on the surrogacy and more forced abortions are occurring as a result.
Also, a new investigation from a group that monitors population issues shows population control officials in China are now engaging in kidnapping.
"The fines for having an illegal child are now three to five times the family’s income. The equivalent fine in the U.S. would be $150 to $250 thousand dollars. Couples have to mortgage their future for decades—literally—in order to be able to borrow enough money to pay off these fines," says Steven Mosher of the Population Research Institute.
"The government insists on calling this extortion ‘social compensation fees,’" he says, "as if the parents were simply defraying the cost to society of another child—but in reality they are heavily punitive. Faced with the prospect of such a fine, many couples ‘voluntarily’ submit to an abortion and sterilization.
What happens to those who don’t pay the fine?
"In Guangxi province, what reportedly happens is that illegal newborns are taken into custody by government officials, who hold the infants until the parents are able to scrape together enough money to pay the huge fine. In other words, the babies are kidnapped and held for ransom," Mosher explains.
Turned either is unaware of that these phenomenon is occurring or believes it is not draconian.
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