In China, a woman pregnant with her third child “was forced to have an abortion under threat of sending her brother to an internment camp“.
Introduced in 1979, the Chinese “one-child policy”, which penalized families who had more than one child, extended this limit to two children on 1 January 2016 (see China: surrogacy to revitalise the birth rate?). Under the current law, “social compensation fees” are imposed on families who refuse to have their children aborted. These costs, often higher than the average annual salary, are a deterrent fine, especially for single women, who then have no choice but to have an abortion.
The case of forced abortions in China appears in the Congressional-Executive Commission on China Report[1], which states that, under Chinese law, “couples [are required to] be married to have children and limit them to bearing two children”. The report clearly explains that “officials reportedly continued to enforce compliance with family planning policies using methods including heavy fines, job termination, detention, and abortion“. Chinese family planning officers are responsible for “inspecting women to insert intrauterine devices, sterilise them, manage pregnancies or induce sometimes late abortions“. “This proves that the Chinese Communist Party still functions as womb police,” said Reggie Littlejohn, President of Women’s Rights Without Frontiers.
Further reading:
[1] Commission appointed by the United States Congress to monitor human rights in China.
RadioFreeEurope (9/01/19)