This is the end result when you make the State your God. This isn't necessarily strictly abortion-related, but some of you will undoubtedly note that the forced abortion didn't take. The State is, indeed, a fearful master.
http://www.the-times.co.uk/news/pages/tim/2000/08/24/timfgnfar01001.html
++++++++++++++++++
Chinese kill baby to enforce birth
rule
FROM OLIVER AUGUST IN BEIJING
Links
CHINA has been shaken
by one of the most
horrifying cases of
official infanticide in
recent memory after
family planners drowned
a healthy baby in front of
its parents.
The actions of the
officials in the village of
Caidian, in the central
Hubei province - carried out as part of China's one-child
policy - caused a public outcry which forced the Hubei
government to pledge that those responsible would be
punished, a rarity in such cases.
The baby's mother, identified by Chinese newspapers as
Mrs Liu, was expecting her fourth child. Couples in the
countryside, where 70 per cent of China's people live, often
have more than one child without punishment, despite the
policy. But in Mrs Liu's case she was forcibly injected with
a saline solution to induce labour and kill the child.
However, the baby was born healthy, to the surprise of
family planning officials who had ordered the injection,
which ordinarily destroys the infant's nervous system.
Immediately after the birth, they ordered the father to kill
the child outside the hospital. He refused to obey but was
so scared of further punishment that he left the crying baby
behind in an office building, where it was found by a doctor
shortly afterwards.
The doctor took the baby back to the hospital and reunited
it with its mother. He removed the umbilical cord,
administered vaccinations and then sent the family home.
Five officials were waiting for them in their living room.
During the ensuing argument, the officials grabbed the
baby, dragged it out of the house and drowned it in a paddy
field in front of its parents.
Such was the public outcry in Hubei that people in Caidian
contacted newspapers in the nearby metropolis of Wuhan
on the Yangtze River. This led to national media attention
which forced the Hubei government to pledge that it would
punish the guilty officials.
Since its implementation in the early 1970s, the one-child
policy has been dogged by allegations that family planning
officials force those who break the rules into having
abortions. The policy was introduced to ensure that China,
a land historically beset by flood and famine, could feed all
its people - now exceeding 1.1 billion - from a mere 7 per
cent of the world's arable land.
Last month Zhang Weiqing, Beijing's Family Planning
Minister, said he would not tolerate officials abusing women
in order to achieve birth control targets. He said: "We have
a strict policy. We deal with every violation by officials
seriously." He was responding to media reports that in
Nanhai, Guangdong, family planning officials held pregnant
women in detention centres for violating the one-child
policy.
The Government has recently restated its full commitment
to the policy despite the abuses.The official Xinhua news
agency commented: "Without taking effective measures to
slow down the rapid growth of its population, China would
have 300 million people more than the current figure."
A foreign demography expert said: "There are reports of
people who have more than one child being beaten up,
ostracised by the community and their houses demolished,
but it is not condoned by the central government."
The doctor who tended the baby in Caidian said: "How
could they be so cruel? The child could have been looked
after in a children's welfare home. How could they do it?"
http://www.the-times.co.uk/news/pages/tim/2000/08/24/timfgnfar01001.html
++++++++++++++++++
Chinese kill baby to enforce birth
rule
FROM OLIVER AUGUST IN BEIJING
Links
CHINA has been shaken
by one of the most
horrifying cases of
official infanticide in
recent memory after
family planners drowned
a healthy baby in front of
its parents.
The actions of the
officials in the village of
Caidian, in the central
Hubei province - carried out as part of China's one-child
policy - caused a public outcry which forced the Hubei
government to pledge that those responsible would be
punished, a rarity in such cases.
The baby's mother, identified by Chinese newspapers as
Mrs Liu, was expecting her fourth child. Couples in the
countryside, where 70 per cent of China's people live, often
have more than one child without punishment, despite the
policy. But in Mrs Liu's case she was forcibly injected with
a saline solution to induce labour and kill the child.
However, the baby was born healthy, to the surprise of
family planning officials who had ordered the injection,
which ordinarily destroys the infant's nervous system.
Immediately after the birth, they ordered the father to kill
the child outside the hospital. He refused to obey but was
so scared of further punishment that he left the crying baby
behind in an office building, where it was found by a doctor
shortly afterwards.
The doctor took the baby back to the hospital and reunited
it with its mother. He removed the umbilical cord,
administered vaccinations and then sent the family home.
Five officials were waiting for them in their living room.
During the ensuing argument, the officials grabbed the
baby, dragged it out of the house and drowned it in a paddy
field in front of its parents.
Such was the public outcry in Hubei that people in Caidian
contacted newspapers in the nearby metropolis of Wuhan
on the Yangtze River. This led to national media attention
which forced the Hubei government to pledge that it would
punish the guilty officials.
Since its implementation in the early 1970s, the one-child
policy has been dogged by allegations that family planning
officials force those who break the rules into having
abortions. The policy was introduced to ensure that China,
a land historically beset by flood and famine, could feed all
its people - now exceeding 1.1 billion - from a mere 7 per
cent of the world's arable land.
Last month Zhang Weiqing, Beijing's Family Planning
Minister, said he would not tolerate officials abusing women
in order to achieve birth control targets. He said: "We have
a strict policy. We deal with every violation by officials
seriously." He was responding to media reports that in
Nanhai, Guangdong, family planning officials held pregnant
women in detention centres for violating the one-child
policy.
The Government has recently restated its full commitment
to the policy despite the abuses.The official Xinhua news
agency commented: "Without taking effective measures to
slow down the rapid growth of its population, China would
have 300 million people more than the current figure."
A foreign demography expert said: "There are reports of
people who have more than one child being beaten up,
ostracised by the community and their houses demolished,
but it is not condoned by the central government."
The doctor who tended the baby in Caidian said: "How
could they be so cruel? The child could have been looked
after in a children's welfare home. How could they do it?"
