I

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 138

To condemn those officials of the Chinese Communist Party, the Government

of the People’s Republic of China, and other persons who are involved

in the enforcement of forced abortions by preventing such persons from

entering or remaining in the United States.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JANUARY 6, 1999

Mrs. FOWLER introduced the following bill; which was referred to the

Committee on the Judiciary

A BILL

To condemn those officials of the Chinese Communist Party,

the Government of the People’s Republic of China, and

other persons who are involved in the enforcement of

forced abortions by preventing such persons from entering or remaining in the United States.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Forced Abortion Con5 demnation Act’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 The Congress makes the following findings:
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1 (1) Forced abortion was rightly denounced as a

2 crime against humanity by the Nuremberg War

3 Crimes Tribunal.

4 (2) For over 15 years there have been frequent

5 and credible reports of forced abortion and forced

6 sterilization in connection with the population con7 trol policies of the People’s Republic of China. These

8 reports indicate the following:

9 (A) Although it is the stated position of

10 the politburo of the Chinese Communist Party

11 that forced abortion and forced sterilization

12 have no role in the population control program,

13 in fact the Communist Chinese Government en14 courages both forced abortion and forced steri15 lization through a combination of strictly en16 forced birth quotas and immunity for local pop17 ulation control officials who engage in coercion.

18 Officials acknowledge that there have been in19 stances of forced abortions and sterilization,

20 and no evidence has been made available to

21 suggest that the perpetrators have been pun22 ished.

23 (B) People’s Republic of China population

24 control officials, in cooperation with employers

25 and works unit officials, routinely monitor wom-
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1 en’s menstrual cycles and subject women who

2 conceive without government authorization to

3 extreme psychological pressure, to harsh eco4 nomic sanctions, including unpayable fines and

5 loss of employment, and often to physical force.

6 (C) Official sanctions for giving birth to

7 unauthorized children include fines in amounts

8 several times larger than the per capita annual

9 incomes of residents of the People’s Republic of

10 China. In Fujian, for example, the average fine

11 is estimated to be twice a family’s gross annual

12 income. Families which cannot pay the fine may

13 be subject to confiscation and destruction of

14 their homes and personal property.

15 (D) Especially harsh punishments have

16 been inflicted on those whose resistance is moti17 vated by religion. For example, according to a

18 1995 Amnesty International report, the Catho19 lic inhabitants of 2 villages in Hebei Province

20 were subjected to population control under the

21 slogan ‘‘better to have more graves than one

22 more child’’. Enforcement measures included

23 torture, sexual abuse, and the detention of re24 sisters’ relatives as hostages.
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1 (E) Forced abortions in Communist China

2 often have taken place in the very late stages

3 of pregnancy.

4 (F) Since 1994 forced abortion and steri5 lization have been used in Communist China

6 not only to regulate the number of children, but

7 also to eliminate those who are regarded as de8 fective in accordance with the official eugenic

9 policy known as the ‘‘Natal and Health Care

10 Law’’.

11 SEC. 3. DENIAL OF ENTRY INTO THE UNITED STATES OF

12 PERSONS IN THE PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF

13 CHINA ENGAGED IN ENFORCEMENT OF

14 FORCED ABORTION POLICY.

15 The Secretary of State may not issue any visa to,

16 and the Attorney General may not admit to the United

17 States, any national of the People’s Republic of China, in18 cluding any official of the Communist Party or the Gov19 ernment of the People’s Republic of China and its re20 gional, local, and village authorities who the Secretary

21 finds, based on credible information, has been involved in

22 the establishment or enforcement of population control

23 policies resulting in a woman being forced to undergo an

24 abortion against her free choice, or resulting in a man or
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1 woman being forced to undergo sterilization against his

2 or her free choice.

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