X-Organization: University of Prince Edward Island
X-VMS-To: IN%"CHRISTIA@ASUACAD.BITNET"
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.christia
Date:         Tue, 18 Aug 1992 12:34:00 -0400
From:         Lora Harris <LHARRIS@UPEI.CA>
Subject:      Chinese news - forced abortion figures.

An excert from...

              * * *  C h i n a   N e w s   D i g e s t  * * *
                              (News Global)
                        Saturday, August 15, 1992

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4. Abortion - Who Believes in a Woman's Right to Choose ? .............. 36
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From: A CND Reader
Source: The Guardian 8/11/92
By: Carrie Grace.

In China's cities, a strict one-child policy means compulsory abortion in
the event of a second pregnancy. In the countryside, those who give birth to
a daughter first time round may try again for a son; thereafter, however,
they too are required to terminate all pregnancies. Only minority
nationalities are allowed to have more than two children.

Officially, 10 million abortions are performed in China each year. The real
figure is probably much higher because some family planning officials under-
report abortions to give the impression that they are meeting birth control
targets by other means.

National family planning officials concede that the restrictions on family
size do result in abuses. Discriminatory abortion, for example, is creating
a worrying imbalance in China's sex ratio: many couples are prepared to
terminate a pregnancy if they suspect their baby will be a girl. Recognising
that ultrasound techniques were being abused for this purpose, authorities
last year made it illegal to tell parents the sex of their child before
birth. But as Chinese doctors are notoriously underpaid and accustomed to
cash gifts, such rules are hard to enforce.

Another practice outlawed by the State Family Planning Commission is forced
or late abortion. Termination, even when a pregnancy is "outside the plan",
is not compulsory and the law gives officials no sanction other than fines
against women who ignore family planning advice. However, grassroots
officials are under intense pressure to meet birth control targets and there
are, for example, persistent reports of rural task forces who seek out
pregnant women and perform forced abortions in cases where the pregnancy
contravenes birth control rules. According to one doctor working in the
surgical department of a Beijing hospital, even in cities, abortions as late
as the seventh month are common.

To reduce such pressures, the authorities encourage all married women who
have already had their quota of children to undergo tubal ligation. Many
rural women complain that the operation is carried out compulsorily after
forced abortion. Says one north-eastern farmer, "If you break the rules,
they'll just do the abortion, then tie your tubes to make sure you don't
make the same mistake again. You'll be lucky if they don't fine you too."

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