China: Late-Term Abortion Forced by Corrupt Officials · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Images of a woman forced to undergo a late-term abortion in Ankang Shaanxi Province in China have been circulating widely in Chinese social media and micro-blogging platforms triggering furious reactions. The photo shows a woman lying in bed with a 7-month old stillborn baby [Warning: graphic image]. Government authorities have apparently chosen not to censor the news. Instead the hashtag “7 month pregnancy forced to abort” is currently listed in the top 10 news item on the socia media site Sina Weibo.
In the 1980s China introduced a one-child policy that restricts many couples from having more than one child with several exceptions for rural couples, people without siblings, and others. The policy is enforced at the provincial level through fines. According to an article on Radio Free Asia from June 12, 2012, the mother, Feng Jiame, accuses officials of a local family planning bureau of forcing her to undergo an abortion because she failed to pay a RMB 40,000 (about $6,000 USD) fine on time.
Even though Shaanxi officials are now under investigation and the state-run media have stressed that late-term abortions are illegal in China and should not be tolerated, netizens are venting much anger, and say that such inhumane tactics are common in spite of laws.
Reproduction of poster that says: 'Do a good job in family planning to promote economic development', Zhang Zhenhua, 1986 – shared on Flickr by IISG (CC BY 2.0)
These are some comments from Weibo:
@牵手白头kx：#怀孕7月遭强制引产# 类似事情在三秦大地上发生的还少嘛?特别是前几年有计生人员大白天抢粮的，有牵人家耕牛的，还有抢家电．家具的。就跟电影里的日本鬼子进村一样。这就是具有中国特色的社会主义社会呀！
@中华飘：#怀孕7月遭强制引产#在强制引产的背后肯定有很多故事。这种用钱去买计划外胎儿的情况在广大的农村地区很常见。传统的传宗接代的观念给我们的政府和计生局的工作人员，我们的人民公仆带来了丰厚的无成本利润。
@北京奔驰宝马配件商：#怀孕7月遭强制引产#及时给钱就能生，不给就就的死，拿钱买命，看来中国的计生委是管生死符的，是阎王殿。何况这些钱收到又跑到谁的腰包呢？现在知道中国贪官为何这么多了吧。如此恶劣的行径在中国处处皆是尤其是偏远乡村，中国的计划生育政策是对中国无人权的再次验证
@岽鎏芝罘：#怀孕7月遭强制引产#从八十年代至今像这样残忍地杀害了多少无辜生命？多少家庭为此家破人亡？多少育龄妇女得乳腺癌、子宫癌、子宫肌瘤？多少怀孕妇女被强制打胎人流？多少官员借肆无忌惮滴机搜刮民财？杀人合法化案例历历在目，亿计的生命啊！历上最没有人性的政策！
@唯一__Single￼：#怀孕7月遭强制引产#不可原谅，计生委不是一次两次是经常干这种事情！￼可恶的是中国法律惩罚不了，难怪有钱的中国人都要去外国！