Last week, the human rights group that is one of the top organizations monitoring the abuses associated with the forced abortion, one-child policy in China indicated yet another woman has been shown to have been a victim of a forced abortion.
ChinaAid revealed information about a story from the Southern Metropolis Daily reporting on the “induced miscarriage” of Hu Xia, who was seven-month’s pregnant with her second child. Local officials in Shangche township, Jianli county of Hubei province, claimed that Hu Xia’s family could not pay the fine and described the abortion as “voluntary.”
The headline in China’s Southern Metropolis Daily read: “Seven Month Baby Girl Aborted.”
Translated into loose English, the article reported: “A fetus of more than seven months. A girl. Because the mother could not pay the fine, she was forcibly brought to a hospital and given an injection to induce a miscarriage. Two days later, she delivered a dead fetus…. On June 19, Hu Xia, of Zhengjiamen village, Shangche township, Jianli county, Hubei province, was forcibly brought by county government officials to People’s Hospital, given an injection to induce a miscarriage, and two days later, she delivered her nearly eight-month dead baby. An official from the township government produced an ‘explanation of the situation’ that described the abortion as voluntary and said no forceful measures were used the entire time.”
On June 25th, 2012, four days after the forced abortion, the mother Hu Xia was lying in the hospital bed and watching the ceiling in silence (see photo).
China’s family planning agencies have received negative publicity over the past several months, as cyber-journalists and Chinese families have challenged the brutality of the “one-child policy.” ChinaAid broke stories about recent forced abortion cases in Hunan and Shaanxi provinces that spurred outrage and debate both outside and inside of China.
In the case from Hunan, Cao Ruyi was able to keep her child after local officials were faced with unwanted media attention. The Hu Xia case is the latest case to appear in the Chinese press.
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“Another life was lost unnecessarily to advance China’s ‘one-child’ policy, which cannot be sustained without violence and coercion,” said Bob Fu, ChinaAid’s President. “Forced abortions are not a choice but violence against women and their unborn children. International attention can help save some women from violence in the short-term, but consistent international condemnation is needed to help convince Beijing that this policy makes a rising China look barbaric and backward.”
Fu said Chinese human rights defenders, cyber-journalists, and families faced with “voluntary” forced abortions are increasingly challenging a hated policy, both because it leads to violence against women and because it is creating a two-tier baby system, rich families who can bride or pay huge fines for a having a second child and poor families who cannot. He added that China has the highest suicide rate in the world among women, a fact many believe may be linked to strict enforcement of the one-child policy.
