..........
Nationwide outrage continued to grow Thursday in China over a late-term abortion forced upon a woman by local family planning officials, even as authorities pledged to punish those responsible.
Feng Jianmei, 22, was illegally detained on May 30 in rural Shaanxi Province and coerced to undergo the procedure three days later in the seventh month of pregnancy.
Deng, a 29-year-old farmer, said he was trying to secure a birth permit up to the last minute but could not afford to pay the fine of 40,000 yuan ($6,300) demanded by the officials. He added that his wife remained traumatized in hospital.
The couple married in 2006 and Feng gave birth to a girl in 2007, local officials said in a statement. Under China's strict family planning law, which limits most married couples to only one child, Feng and Deng are ineligible to have a second child.
Graphic photos taken after the abortion showing a bloody baby lying next to Feng in a hospital bed have been circulating online and shocked Chinese netizens, prompting rare domestic media coverage and public debate on one of the country's most controversial policies.
After initially insisting the operation was voluntary, local officials acknowledged Thursday that the forced abortion was illegal.
Deng, the husband, told CNN that no officials above the county level had visited the family. He said village leaders who had shown up asked the family "not to hype the incident."
Deng himself has opened a Weibo account, posting developments and venting frustrations. His profile picture is one of the post-abortion photos of his wife, with the baby's image blurred, that have jolted the nation.
China's "one child" policy was recently thrown into the international spotlight when prominent human rights activist Chen Guangcheng escaped his house arrest and moved to New York. Chen's supporters maintain his long-time legal advocacy for victims of forced abortions and sterilizations had led to his persecution.
Since the government introduced the policy in the late 1970s to curb population growth in the world's most populous nation, millions of women have been forced to end their "illegal pregnancies." The number of "family planning abortions" peaked in 1983 with 14.37 million operations performed that year, according to the Health Ministry. Since 2000, such abortions have numbered about 7 million a year -- with a spike in 2008 to 9.17 million cases.
Culled from CNN
Thursday 14 June 2012
Forced abortion sparks outrage in China
Jianmei
..........
Nationwide outrage continued to grow Thursday in China over a late-term abortion forced upon a woman by local family planning officials, even as authorities pledged to punish those responsible.
Feng Jianmei, 22, was illegally detained on May 30 in rural Shaanxi Province and coerced to undergo the procedure three days later in the seventh month of pregnancy.
Deng, a 29-year-old farmer, said he was trying to secure a birth permit up to the last minute but could not afford to pay the fine of 40,000 yuan ($6,300) demanded by the officials. He added that his wife remained traumatized in hospital.
The couple married in 2006 and Feng gave birth to a girl in 2007, local officials said in a statement. Under China's strict family planning law, which limits most married couples to only one child, Feng and Deng are ineligible to have a second child.
Graphic photos taken after the abortion showing a bloody baby lying next to Feng in a hospital bed have been circulating online and shocked Chinese netizens, prompting rare domestic media coverage and public debate on one of the country's most controversial policies.
After initially insisting the operation was voluntary, local officials acknowledged Thursday that the forced abortion was illegal.
Deng, the husband, told CNN that no officials above the county level had visited the family. He said village leaders who had shown up asked the family "not to hype the incident."
Deng himself has opened a Weibo account, posting developments and venting frustrations. His profile picture is one of the post-abortion photos of his wife, with the baby's image blurred, that have jolted the nation.
China's "one child" policy was recently thrown into the international spotlight when prominent human rights activist Chen Guangcheng escaped his house arrest and moved to New York. Chen's supporters maintain his long-time legal advocacy for victims of forced abortions and sterilizations had led to his persecution.
Since the government introduced the policy in the late 1970s to curb population growth in the world's most populous nation, millions of women have been forced to end their "illegal pregnancies." The number of "family planning abortions" peaked in 1983 with 14.37 million operations performed that year, according to the Health Ministry. Since 2000, such abortions have numbered about 7 million a year -- with a spike in 2008 to 9.17 million cases.
Culled from CNN
..........
Nationwide outrage continued to grow Thursday in China over a late-term abortion forced upon a woman by local family planning officials, even as authorities pledged to punish those responsible.
Feng Jianmei, 22, was illegally detained on May 30 in rural Shaanxi Province and coerced to undergo the procedure three days later in the seventh month of pregnancy.
Deng, a 29-year-old farmer, said he was trying to secure a birth permit up to the last minute but could not afford to pay the fine of 40,000 yuan ($6,300) demanded by the officials. He added that his wife remained traumatized in hospital.
The couple married in 2006 and Feng gave birth to a girl in 2007, local officials said in a statement. Under China's strict family planning law, which limits most married couples to only one child, Feng and Deng are ineligible to have a second child.
Graphic photos taken after the abortion showing a bloody baby lying next to Feng in a hospital bed have been circulating online and shocked Chinese netizens, prompting rare domestic media coverage and public debate on one of the country's most controversial policies.
After initially insisting the operation was voluntary, local officials acknowledged Thursday that the forced abortion was illegal.
Deng, the husband, told CNN that no officials above the county level had visited the family. He said village leaders who had shown up asked the family "not to hype the incident."
Deng himself has opened a Weibo account, posting developments and venting frustrations. His profile picture is one of the post-abortion photos of his wife, with the baby's image blurred, that have jolted the nation.
China's "one child" policy was recently thrown into the international spotlight when prominent human rights activist Chen Guangcheng escaped his house arrest and moved to New York. Chen's supporters maintain his long-time legal advocacy for victims of forced abortions and sterilizations had led to his persecution.
Since the government introduced the policy in the late 1970s to curb population growth in the world's most populous nation, millions of women have been forced to end their "illegal pregnancies." The number of "family planning abortions" peaked in 1983 with 14.37 million operations performed that year, according to the Health Ministry. Since 2000, such abortions have numbered about 7 million a year -- with a spike in 2008 to 9.17 million cases.
Culled from CNN
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