China confirms forced abortion case after uproar OCD_OCD: Chinese authorities confirmed Thursday that a woman was forced to abort seven months into her pregnancy, several days after her plight came to light when images of her baby's corpse were posted online. Rights groups have blamed authorities in north China's Shaanxi province for forcing Feng Jianmei to abort her pregnancy because she failed to pay a hefty fine for exceeding China's strict "one-child" population control policy. The Shaanxi provincial government said in a statement that a preliminary probe had confirmed the case was "basically true", and the investigators have recommended action be taken against the perpetrators. "This is a serious violation of the National Population and Family Planning Commission's policies, jeopardises the population control work and has caused uneasiness in society," the provincial government said on its website. The government did not pinpoint exactly who the perpetrators were, but vowed to avoid a repeat of such a case, which it said was against regulations in effect since 2001 banning late-term abortions. Chinese web users have reacted in anger to the abortion, with one comparing it to acts perpetrated by "Japanese devils and Nazis", after photos online showed Feng lying on a hospital bed next to the blood-smeared body of her baby. A relative told AFP on Wednesday that Feng and her husband had opposed the termination. An official at the national family planning commission who declined to be named said earlier that the commission viewed the matter as "serious and important" and that the probe was being handled at the "top level". China has implemented its draconian family planning policy since the late 1970s in an effort to control a population that has grown to 1.3 billion people, the world's largest. Under the policy, urban families are generally allowed to have one child, while rural families can give birth to two children if the first is a girl. They have to pay a fine if they contravene the rules. OCD_OCD: Rights groups say that as a result of the policy, thousands of women have been forced by authorities to terminate their pregnancies. Blind activist Chen Guangcheng, who recently left China for the United States after fleeing house arrest, was once jailed after angering local officials for bringing to light hundreds of forced abortions. Official statistics show that since the start of the policy, the number of abortions peaked in 1983, with a total of 14.37 million terminations that year. The US said Monday it has expressed opposition to China's one-child policy after activists reported that a five-month-pregnant woman faces an imminent forced abortion in a separate case. "We make no secret that the United States strongly oppose all aspects of China's coercive birth limitation policies, including forced abortion and sterilisation, and we always raise these issues with the Chinese government," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said.  davidk14: . OCD, I posted tons of information on this months ago. You sitting down? ...53% of the population of 'China' lives in sever to moderate poverty. That means at a minimum, 53% of the population of China, has no running water or indoor plumbing. 53% = 300,000,000 human beings. The percentage used to be much higher at around 70% just 20 or so years ago but they just can't get below the 53% figure. They use abortion as population control. . OCD_OCD: I can't even conceive of it. And yet China and other nations talk down to us. Pffffft. While our "lower classes" are wearing $200 Nike's theirs are eating out of bins.  Comrade_: Moderate poverty is a bit different from extreme poverty, OCD. There is relative poverty, moderate poverty and then extreme poverty. It doesn't mean that they're 'eating out of bins' but means they can only afford the very basic things in life but nothing more..it means they are only on the borderline of survival, just enough to eat but everyday is a struggle..idk if being able to wear $200 Nikes while claiming to be poor is a good thing either. I don't agree with the forcing of abortion, I hate the concept. The purpose of it is for population control, which the Chinese population clearly needs..it seems as a dilemma in my view. (Edited by Comrade_)  ~LoisLane~: This is just disgusting and those poor women who are forced to go through this. Im sure teaching them some forms of Birth Control might help just a little bit, WTF. OCD_OCD: If the Chinese government is a government "for the people" as they claim, then why not free birth control and education rather than these disgusting forced abortions?  StuckInTheSixties: China's government should pony up the expenses to OFFER any form of birth control that is requested. If need be, they should OFFER incentives to persuade their citizens to parent fewer children. They shouldn't FORCE any form of birth control that isn't requested. They can afford it. ~LoisLane~: The other alternative would be Birth Control not abortions. What do you think cost more. Sarcastic Dots: A faux-communist government handing out birth control under a state-run healthcare system? As for birth control being affordable, I have a suspicion that condoms, pills and various other forms of control are far cheaper than abortions. Also, in a population as large as China's, it's probably far easier to hand out condoms than to forcefully drag people into hospital. Seriously though, what is up with China? It's political alignment seems to fall further from communism than some European countries nowadays. There are plenty on nationalised healthcare system that incorporate abortion and birth control without the public decrying them. More bizarre, Japan has a crises that falls upon the opposite end of the spectrum: there aren't enough Japanese children being born to sustain the countries work force. Crazy world, start making sense. Edit: Also, the best form of birth control is lifting people out of poverty. You'll note that the developed world's birth rates are falling, while the impoverished nations birth rates are rising. (Edited by Sarcastic Dots) (Post deleted by staff ) Comrade_: I wanted to check the finances spent on forced abortion, and the number of cases (wasn't finding it on google). The website I posted showed some things that are put in place, but contraceptives as condoms etc wouldn't guarantee full protection, forced abortion will still be there. People can't be force to live in that way either.. (Edited by Comrade_) (Post deleted by staff ) | Politics Chat Room 49 People Chatting Similar Conversations |
