(Source: Washinton Street Journal, June 15, 2012)

BEIJING—Chinese authorities suspended family-planning officials who forced a woman to have a late-term abortion after news of the case sparked a torrent of outrage online and refocused attention on abuses carried out under the country’s one-child policy.

Feng Jianmei, 23-year-old was seven months pregnant when she was detained and taken to a hospital, then was forced to undergo an abortion seven months into her pregnancy on June 2, family members said. Ms. Feng’s case attracted widespread attention after graphic photos of her lying on a hospital bed next to her aborted fetus began circulating online this week. The case brought the practice of forced abortions back into the news just a few weeks after one its highest-profile opponents, blind legal activist Chen Guangcheng, made global headlines with his escape from home confinement and six-day stay inside the U.S. Embassy in Beijing. Mr. Chen, now a student at New York University, once spent seven years under various forms of detention after he filed a class-action lawsuit in 2005 on behalf of women forced to undergo abortions or sterilizations in his home province of Shandong.

Authorities in Ankang, the city in central China’s Shaanxi province where the abortion occurred, say they have apologized to Ms. Feng and her husband and that three officials, including the head of the local family-planning department, were suspended. “Pending a thorough investigation into the incident, the Ankang city government will pursue strict legal and disciplinary action against the relevant parties,” said a statement posted Thursday night on the Ankang city government’s website. In a separate statement, also posted Thursday night, the city said it had dispatched deputy mayor Du Shouping to the hospital to visit Ms. Feng and her husband. “On behalf of the city government, I’ve come to visit you today to express our sincere apologies,” Mr. Du said, according to the statement. “I hope we can earn your forgiveness.”

Writing on his verified account on popular Twitter-like microblogging service Sina Weibo earlier in the week, Ms. Feng’s husband, Deng Liyuan, said his wife was forced to have the abortion after the family failed to raise the cash to pay a 40,000 yuan ($6,300) fine for having a second child. Family members said local officials surrounded the house where Ms. Feng was staying and prevented anyone from leaving. Ms. Feng tried to escape but was caught and taken to the hospital. “While I was rushing to the hospital, they forced my wife to sign a document with her fingerprint, violently held her down and injected her with poison to cause the abortion,” Mr. Deng wrote on Sina Weibo. An official answering the phone at the Ankang Family Planning Bureau declined to discuss specifics of Ms. Feng’s case, saying the investigation was continuing. “Grass-roots comrades aren’t stupid, but this is what they’re forced to do,” said the official, who declined to give his name. “This is a problem with the entire system.”

Local governments have long resorted to forced abortions and sterilizations to meet birth quotas set by Beijing under the one-child policy. The practice has become increasingly controversial in recent years, feeding public anger over a family-planning system that critics say falls particularly hard on the urban poor who often can’t afford to pay the fine to have a second child.

Rural families are typically allowed to have a second child if the first is a girl. Although Ms. Feng and Mr. Deng, who already have a 5-year-old daughter, didn’t qualify to have a second child, it is illegal to force a woman to have a late-term abortion, China’s state-run Xinhua news agency noted.  

Massive online interest was a major factor in pushing local authorities to investigate the case. A lot of similar cases had happened before, but before it was difficult to get the word out. This event maybe encourages the relevant people to reflect and China really needs to think about the second-child question.

(Edited by: China West Lawyer)