China Denies Forced Late-Term Abortions Common; Country Against Practice

A Chinese official on Thursday denied that forced late-term abortions are common in the country and said that the country is against the practice, the AFP/Today Online reports. China's Vice Health Minister Jiang Zuojun at a news conference said, "Regarding the abortion of eight-month-old fetuses, this is definitely something the Chinese government is opposed to," adding, "We do not allow the abortion of elderly fetuses, such as eight-month fetuses. ... [E]ven if there are such cases, they are isolated cases." In related news, Jiang did not give an update on human rights advocate Chen Guangcheng, who was arrested in China's Shangdong province after trying to expose alleged human rights abuses associated with the enforcement of the country's one-child-per-family policy (AFP/Today Online, 8/10). The policy seeks to keep the country's population -- now 1.3 billion -- at around 1.7 billion by 2050. Ethnic minorities and farmers are the only groups legally exempt from the rule. Chen recorded testimony from men and women in communities in and around China's Linyi province who have experienced forced abortions and sterilizations, as well as had family members captured and tortured after they tried to hide or run from authorities. He was attempting to bring a class-action lawsuit against the Chinese government for alleged human rights abuses associated with the enforcement. Chen in September 2005 was placed under house arrest for speaking with journalists, government officials and other advocates about the one-child policy. Chinese police formally arrested Chen in June for his attempts to challenge the policy (Kaiser Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 7/31). Jiang said, "We need to continue to pursue the national family planning policy," adding that it had prevented about 300 million births (AFP/Today Online, 8/10).

Xinhua/China Daily Profiles China's 'Care for Girls' Program; Effect on Gender Imbalance
In related news, Xinhua/China Daily on Tuesday profiled China's "Care for Girls" program, which aims to elevate the status of girls and women in the country, and the program's effect on offsetting the gender imbalance in the country. Under the one-child policy, couples in rural China whose first child is a girl are allowed to have a second child, according to Xinhua/China Daily. The Care for Girls program, which in 2003 was launched by the National Population and Family Planning Commission in 24 counties, provides social benefits -- such as subsidies, endowment insurance, aid funds and education assistance and exemptions to families with only girls. According to Xinhua/China Daily, the program is credited with reducing the ratio of boys to girls in the counties from 133.8 boys for 100 girls in 2003 to 119.6 boys for 100 girls in 2006. The global ratio is 103 to 107 boys for 100 girls, but in China, only seven out of the 31 provincial regions report a gender ratio below 110 boys for 100 girls, Xinhua/China Daily reports. In addition to the program, the Chinese government has increased its efforts to curb the gender imbalance by prosecuting cases of sex-selective abortion and has prosecuted 3,000 such cases in the past two years, Xinhua/China Daily reports. The family planning commission plans to extend the program to all provincial regions (Xinhua/China Daily, 8/8).

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