Pro-Abortion Groups Lobby China to Release Forced Abortion Victim 
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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
December 20, 2004
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — Leading abortion advocacy groups are calling on China to stop the abusive treatment of a woman who lost her job and was pressured to have an abortion after she became pregnant. She is now being subjected to intense torture in a forced labor prison camp.
The 40 pro-abortion groups submitted a letter to China’s President Hu Jintao to register their opposition to the Asian country’s treatment of Mao Hengfeng. The letter was delivered to Chinese Ambassador Yang Jiechi at the country’s Washington embassy.
They called on the Chinese government to release Mao from the prison camp and to provide for "reparations for her unjust treatment." At minimum, the groups say China must "insure [sic] that her treatment in such a center is the result of proper due process and conforms with international human rights standards."
Sixteen years ago, Mao was fired from her job at a soap factory after she became pregnant for a second time. She refused to have an abortion, which Chinese population control officials mandated.
Since then, Mao has continued to complain to the Chinese government about what happened, asking officials to allow her to return to work and to restore other basic rights she has been denied.
The letter also calls on the Asian country to "work with UNFPA and end any remaining remnants of coercion in China’s family planning programs."
However, pro-life advocates say such an admonition is hypocritical given the UN agency’s involvement in China’s one-child policy that includes forced abortions and sterilizations.
At a meeting of the House International Relations Committee last week, Congressional leaders looked into the continued human rights abuses under China’s population control programs, including focusing on Mao’s case.
Representative Christopher Smith, a New Jersey Republican pointed out that the UNFPA, did not accept an invitation to attend the hearing to explain its support for China’s controversial policies.
"Despite numerous credible forced abortion reports from impeccable sources, including human rights organizations like Amnesty International, journalists, former Chinese population control officials and, above all, from the women victims themselves, high officials at UNFPA always dismiss and explain it all away," he explained.
For the fourth consecutive year in a row, President Bush has blocked millions of taxpayer dollars from going to the United Nations Population Fund, because of the agency’s support for China’s population control program
The Bush administration announced in October that it will divert the $34 million allocated to the U.N. group to a USAID program that provides health care for poor women and children in other countries and for a program that combats the sexual trafficking of women.
However, the pro-abortion groups signing the letter maintain they want China to end its coercive policies.
"[T]he Chinese government has taken steps toward eliminating coercion in its national population and family planning programs," the organizations wrote. "But more must be done."
Some of the groups that signed the letter to the Chinese government include: the International Planned Parenthood Federation, Population Action International, British abortion business Marie Stopes International, Catholics for a Free Choice, and a representative of the Episcopal Church USA.
Related web sites:
Letter to Chinese embassy regarding Mao –
https://www.catholicsforchoice.org/pdf/chinamao.pdf
