IV 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. CON. RES. 220 

Concerning the response of the United States to forced abortion and the 

coercive one-child policy in the People’s Republic of China, and the 

resulting ‘‘gendercide’’ of girls in that country. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 27, 2007 

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey submitted the following concurrent resolution; 

which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs 

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 

Concerning the response of the United States to forced abortion and the coercive one-child policy in the People’s 

Republic of China, and the resulting ‘‘gendercide’’ of 

girls in that country. 

Whereas since the 1980s the Government of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has enforced a general one-child 

policy, which limits most women to bearing one child, 

though some women in rural areas are permitted to bear 

a second child, particularly if their first child is female; 

Whereas the PRC Government coerces compliance with this 

policy by pervasive propaganda, mandatory monitoring of 

women’s reproductive cycles, mandatory contraception, 

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traceptive implantation, and government control of birth 

spacing; 

Whereas the PRC Government coerces compliance with this 

policy by punishing failure to comply and refusal to abort 

‘‘out-of-plan’’ children with fines (called ‘‘social compensation fees’’) which often range from roughly one-half 

to ten times the average Chinese annual income; 

Whereas the PRC Government coerces compliance with this 

policy and pressures women to abort ‘‘out-of-plan’’ children by means of job loss, group punishments (imposing 

penalties or denying benefits to entire villages, factories, 

and work units in the event of a single ‘‘out-of-plan’’ 

birth), and beating and abducting relatives of women who 

are pregnant ‘‘out-of-plan’’, so that they are socially ostracized and put under social pressure to have an abortion; 

Whereas the PRC Government physically destroys the homes 

of some of those who do not pay social compensation 

fees; 

Whereas the PRC Government creates an atmosphere of fear 

in which most Chinese women feel they have little choice 

to comply with the Government’s draconian birth-limitation policy; 

Whereas as recently as May 2007 it was credibly reported by 

the New York Times and the Washington Post that the 

PRC Government ordered a crackdown on population 

quotas and ‘‘out-of-plan’’ births in Guangxi province, 

that Guangxi family planning officials conducted a campaign of violence in detaining citizens, searching homes, 

confiscating valuables, and destroying homes, and that 

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zens in eight townships fought with riot police, overturned official vehicles, and damaged government offices, 

and that several officials were killed in these riots; 

Whereas the PRC Government has passed legislation that 

makes it illegal to force women to have abortions; 

Whereas at least 7 PRC provinces require abortion of children whose birth would violate provincial regulations, 

while at least 10 PRC provinces require unspecified ‘‘remedial measures’’; 

Whereas many Congressional hearings and reports in leading 

newspapers and newsmagazines throughout the world 

have established that PRC officials charged with implementing the one-child policy frequently violate PRC law 

by physically coercing abortions; 

Whereas the PRC Government encourages its officials’ illegal 

coercion of abortions and sterilizations by making the 

promotions and bonuses of local officials depend on meeting population targets, and by failing to punish officials 

who physically coerce abortions; 

Whereas PRC officials have punished citizens, including legal 

advocate Chen Guangcheng, who have publicized population planning abuses by local officials; 

Whereas the PRC’s policy of coercive birth limitation has 

caused Chinese couples, many of whom have a cultural 

preference for sons, to abort or abandon female infants 

so that they may try later to have a son, resulting in a 

male to female birth ratio for first births of 121 to 100 

and a male to female birth ratio for second births of 152 

to 100, according to official PRC figures; 


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Whereas the male to female birth ratio has been growing 

steadily wider since the 1980s, according to official PRC 

figures; 

Whereas the ‘‘gendercide’’ caused by the PRC’s policies has 

already created a generation of young men of whom tens 

of millions will not be able to find wives, due to the tens 

of millions of missing women; 

Whereas the coercive birth limitation, in limiting most couples to one child, has created generations of young people, few of whom know what it is to have brothers or sisters, or aunts or uncles, and the cultural impact on the 

PRC of this historically unprecedented situation is unknown; 

Whereas in June 2006 the PRC’s National People’s Congress 

withdrew a proposed law that would have criminalized 

sex-selective abortion; 

Whereas the Population and Family Planning Law of the 

PRC contravenes standards set by the 1995 Beijing Declaration and the 1994 Programme of Action of the Cairo 

International Conference on Population and Development, to which the PRC is a signatory, by limiting the 

number of children that married women may bear and by 

banning unmarried women from bearing any children; 

Whereas the PRC Government contravenes standards set by 

the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the 

International Covenant of Economic, Social, and Cultural 

Rights, to which the PRC is a signatory, by discriminating against ‘‘out-of-plan’’ children by denying them 

basic health care, education, and the right to marry; 

Whereas the PRC Government contravenes the 1994 Programme of Action of the Cairo International Conference 


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on Population and Development, to which the PRC is a 

signatory, by setting population targets; 

Whereas the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of the 

Child proclaims that the child ‘‘needs special safeguards 

and care, including appropriate legal protection, before as 

well as after birth’’; 

Whereas since 1979 the United Nations Population Fund 

(UNFPA) has been involved in supporting, promoting, 

and facilitating the PRC’s oppressive one-child program; 

Whereas Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and 

George W. Bush have determined that UNFPA supports 

the PRC Government’s program of coercive abortion or 

involuntary sterilization; 

Whereas UNFPA support for the PRC Government’s program of coerced abortion and involuntary sterilization 

violates the ‘‘Kemp-Kasten’’ provision of United States 

law; 

Whereas former UNFPA Representative in Beijing, Sven 

Burmester, has said that, ‘‘China has had the most successful family planning policy in the history of mankind 

in terms of quantity and with that, China has done mankind a favor’’; 

Whereas former UNFPA Executive Director, Nafis Sadik, 

has said, ‘‘I have had the honor of being associated with 

China’s reproductive health and family planning programme for more than two decades. I was instrumental 

in initiating UNFPA’s cooperation with China in 1979 

. . . I also feel proud that UNFPA made the wise decision 

to resist external pressures and continued its fruitful cooperation with China.’’, and moreover claimed that, ‘‘the 

implementation of the policy [in China] and the acceptVerDate Aug 31 2005 00:04 Sep 28, 2007 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HC220.IH HC220

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ance of the policy is purely voluntary. There is no such 

thing as, you know, a license to have a birth and so on.’’; 

Whereas UNFPA Executive Director Sadik also said, ‘‘China 

has every reason to feel proud of and pleased with its remarkable achievements made in its family planning policy. The country could offer its experiences and special 

expertise to help other countries,’’ adding that the 

‘‘UNFPA is going to employ some of [China]’s family 

planning experts to work in other countries and popularize China’s experiences in population growth control 

and family planning’’; and 

Whereas paragraph 31 of the UNFPA Country Program 

Document for China, issued on October 10, 2005, states 

that the UNFPA will seek to ‘‘enhance the role of China 

in the international arena, including through greater 

South-South collaboration’’ and to ‘‘seek to strengthen 

the capacity for South-South Collaboration in the areas 

of reproductive health, ageing, gender and HIV/AIDS’’, 

thereby indicating its plans to assist the PRC Government in exporting its population planning program to 

other countries: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate 

2 concurring), That Congress— 

3 (1) strongly condemns the continued violations 

4 of human rights by the Government of the People’s 

5 Republic of China (PRC), including— 

6 (A) the limitation of the number of chil7 dren a woman may bear, as well as the intru8 sive system that supports this limitation, which 

9 includes setting population targets, mandatory 


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1 monitoring of women’s reproductive cycles, re2 quiring that women obtain ‘‘birth permits’’, and 

3 government control of birth spacing; 

4 (B) coercing compliance with its birth limi5 tations through job loss, social ostracization, 

6 fines, and the creation of an atmosphere of 

7 fear; and 

8 (C) violent enforcement of its birth limita9 tions through policies that encourage officials to 

10 physically force women to have abortions and to 

11 be sterilized, to destroy homes, to beat and 

12 abduct the relatives and friends of women preg13 nant ‘‘out-of-plan,’’ and the punishment of 

14 those who publicize such abuses; 

15 (2) urges the PRC Government to cease these 

16 policies, which have led to the social catastrophe of 

17 ‘‘gendercide’’; 

18 (3) urges the United Nations Population Fund 

19 (UNFPA) to cease all its activities in the PRC and 

20 to withdraw from that country; 

21 (4) affirms certain internationally recognized 

22 human rights, including— 

23 (A) the right of women to bear children 

24 unconstrained by government policies which 


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1 would limit the number of children they bear or 

2 prevent them from bearing children; and 

3 (B) the right of children not to be dis4 criminated against by a government because 

5 they were born contrary to a government plan; 

6 and 

7 (5) asks that the President and the Secretary 

8 of State— 

9 (A) raise the concerns expressed in this 

10 concurrent resolution with the PRC Govern11 ment; 

12 (B) call upon the PRC Government to 

13 cease immediately the policies outlined in this 

14 concurrent resolution; and 

15 (C) continue to withhold funds from 

16 UNFPA due to UNFPA’s continued involve17 ment in supporting coercive abortion and steri18 lization, which violates the ‘‘Kemp-Kasten’’ pro19 vision of United States law. 

Æ 


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