IV 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. RES. 705 

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the Chinese Communist Party should be condemned for engaging in coercive abortion 

practices, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

OCTOBER 2, 2007 

Mr. BILIRAKIS (for himself, Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN, Mr. BURTON of Indiana, Mr. 

MCCOTTER, Mr. FRANKS of Arizona, Mr. RENZI, Mr. SOUDER, Mr. 

FEENEY, Mr. TIBERI, Mr. RYAN of Ohio, and Mr. ADERHOLT) submitted 

the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign 

Affairs 

RESOLUTION 

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that 

the Chinese Communist Party should be condemned for 

engaging in coercive abortion practices, and for other 

purposes. 

Whereas the People’s Republic of China is an authoritarian 

police state in which the Chinese Communist Party 

(CCP) is the paramount source of power; 

Whereas the citizens of China do not vote for the members 

of the CCP; 

Whereas the citizens of China do not have the right under 

Chinese law to change their government; 


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Whereas the unelected members of the CCP have implemented a one child policy the goal of which, with some 

exceptions, is to limit each couple in China to one child; 

Whereas the CCP, and government officials obliged to enforce 

the CCP’s one child policy, have violated and continue to 

violate the rights of women and citizens of China by engaging in economic and physical coercion in pursuit of 

the CCP’s one child policy; 

Whereas the CCP has passed a law which purports to prohibit the use of physical coercion (but not economic coercion) to compel persons to submit to abortion or sterilization, and holds this law out to the international community and its own people as evidence that there is no such 

problem in China; 

Whereas, however, this CCP propaganda is contradicted in 

the Department of State’s Report on Human Rights 

Practices in China, published on March 6, 2007, in which 

the Department of State determined— 

(1) the CCP’s birth planning policies utilize harshly 

coercive elements in law and practice; 

(2) the penalties for violating the law are strict, 

leaving some women little choice but to abort pregnancies; 

(3) reports of forced sterilizations and abortions continued to be documented in rural areas; 

(4) officials who help persons evade the birth limitations are subject to significant sanctions; 

(5) social compensation fees for violations of the one 

child policy are set and assessed against mothers and 

families at the local level, enabling corrupt officials to enrich themselves while zealously enforcing the one child 

policy; 


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(6) forcible action is used as an enforcement mechanism, such as detaining family members or confiscating 

and destroying property of families who refuse to or cannot pay social compensation fees; 

(7) seven provinces require ‘‘termination of pregnancy’’ if the pregnancy violates provincial family planning regulations; 

(8) an additional 10 provinces require unspecified 

‘‘remedial measures’’ to deal with out-of-plan pregnancies; 

(9) it continues to be illegal in almost all provinces 

for a single woman to have a child; in fact, social compensation fees are levied on unwed mothers; 

(10) the country’s population control policy relies 

not only on education, propaganda, and economic incentives, but on more coercive measures such as the threat 

of job loss or demotion; those who violate the child limit 

policy by having an unapproved child or helping another 

to do so face disciplinary measures such as job loss or 

demotion or loss of promotion opportunity; imposing fines 

and refusing to allow persons to return to work based 

solely on the fact that the woman became pregnant or 

gave birth to more than one child is commonplace; and 

(11) in the case of families that already had two 

children, one parent was often pressured to undergo sterilization; these penalties sometimes left women with little 

practical choice but to undergo abortion or sterilization; 

Whereas on September 1, 2002, China adopted the Population and Family Planning Law, which requires couples 

who have an unapproved child to pay a ‘‘social compensation fee’’; 


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Whereas the social compensation fee policy is a harsh and effective enforcement tool that is used to force women to 

have an abortion by imposing fines that ranged from onehalf to 10 times the average worker’s annual disposable 

income; 

Whereas the CCP publicly admits that it does not consider 

the social compensation fee and other administrative punishments to be coercive; 

Whereas the one child policy of the CCP results in the citizens of China being forced to make horrific choices regarding the life and death of unborn children; 

Whereas many families use ultrasound to identify female 

fetuses and terminate pregnancies, due to the preference 

for male children in China and the penalties imposed for 

having more than one child, particularly in rural areas; 

Whereas an official study in Hainan Province found that 68 

percent of abortions were of female fetuses, where pregnancy was terminated in the hope that the next child 

(and only child permitted) would be a male; 

Whereas according to a 2002 survey, 35 percent of women 

in one rural township admitted to having an abortion because of a preference for a male child; 

Whereas female babies also suffer from a higher mortality 

rate than male babies, contrary to the worldwide norm; 

Whereas state media report that infant mortality rates in 

rural areas are 27 percent higher for girls than boys, and 

a higher percentage of girls are found in orphanages; 

Whereas the CCP’s claims that it does not use coercion to 

enforce the one child policy are further refuted by the imprisonment of Chen Guangchen; Mr. Chen is a blind activist who was working on behalf of victims of the one 


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child policy; Mr. Chen accused local health workers in 

Shandong Province of forcing people to have late-term 

abortions and sterilizations; 

Whereas local rights activists documented cases of forced 

late-term abortions, and at least 7,000 people had been 

forced to submit to sterilization procedures; 

Whereas in 2006, Time Magazine named Mr. Chen as one of 

the world’s 100 most influential people for exposing the 

atrocities; 

Whereas the response of the CCP was to silence Mr. Chen 

by accusing him of frivolous law violations, arresting his 

attorney on the eve of trial, and imprisoning Mr. Chen 

for 4 years and 3 months; 

Whereas despite international protests, Mr. Chen remains incarcerated; 

Whereas on August 24, 2007, Yuan Weijing, the wife of 

Chen Guangcheng, was kidnapped from Beijing Airport 

by authorities and beaten as she attempted to fly to the 

Philippines to accept an award on behalf of her imprisoned husband; and 

Whereas Yuan Weijing was forcibly returned to her home village: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That— 

2 (1) the House of Representatives declares 

3 that— 

4 (A) pregnant women in China possess a 

5 fundamental, inalienable right to carry their 

6 pregnancies to term and to deliver their chilVerDate Aug 31 2005 02:47 Oct 03, 2007 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\HR705.IH HR705

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1 dren free from coercive tactics designed to force 

2 a woman to abort her child; 

3 (B) the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) 

4 and government officials in China have no right 

5 to impose a fine, dismiss from employment, or 

6 in any way punish a pregnant woman, her 

7 spouse or members of her family based solely 

8 on the pregnant woman’s exercise of her in9 alienable right to carry her pregnancy to term 

10 and deliver her child; 

11 (C) Article 16 of the Universal Declaration 

12 of Human Rights, adopted and proclaimed by 

13 United Nations General Assembly Resolution 

14 217 A (III) of December 10, 1948, provides 

15 that adult men and women ‘‘have the right to 

16 marry and to found a family’’; and 

17 (D) the use of the power of the govern18 ment by the CCP to coerce abortion and steri19 lization is immoral, reprehensible, and a viola20 tion of the Universal Declaration of Human 

21 Rights; 

22 (2) the House of Representatives expresses its 

23 regrets and condolences to the innocent victims of 

24 the CCP’s one-child policy; and 


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1 (3) it is the sense of the House of Representa2 tives that the United States Government should pub3 licly condemn the CCP’s one child policy, coerced 

4 abortions, and coerced sterilizations at appropriate 

5 United Nations bodies and other international and 

6 multi-national forums, and ensure that preparations 

7 for such actions be made at appropriately high levels 

8 and with the widest possible support from other 

9 United Nations member states. 

Æ 


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