Update (April 3): Feng Jianmei, the Chinese woman who gained notoriety after a photo of her and her forcibly aborted daughter went viral last year, is speaking out about her “continued struggle for emotional healing,” Baptist Press (BP) reports.
According to BP, Feng told a Chinese television station that the cost of her abortion is more than financial. Not only has the local government failed to reimburse her for medical treatments, Feng says, she “lost the most. We lost a baby.”
Feng’s story caused outcry over China’s oppressive one-child policy, prompting reports that China would end forced abortions. Last winter, CT reported the dueling accounts of one-child policy change among advocacy groups, as well the dangers of sex-selective abortion amounting to genocide in China.
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(Editor’s note: Another advocacy group is disputing AGA’s report.)
According to All Girls Allowed, Chinese family planning offices received a government-issued order to stop mandatory abortions. The directive follows international outcry after a photo of a Chinese mother, Feng Jianmei, and her aborted child circulated in June.
China’s One-Child Policy previously permitted family planning officials to require pregnant women to receive an abortion as a “remedial measure.” However, China Daily reports that the central government has not yet approved any plans to loosen the one-child requirement itself.
Though family planning offices, which are responsible for enforcing the one-child requirements, no longer may require abortions or sterilizations, Chinese couples who violate the law still face other penalties, such as fines or job loss.
CT has previously covered the potential loosening of China’s one-child policy and interviewed Chai Ling, founder of All Girls Allowed. Chai also profiled one-child opponent and activist Chen Guangcheng in May.
