WASHINGTON, D.C., August 23, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Opponents of forced abortion under China’s one-child policy are urging support for a House bill that would put pressure on human rights abusers in the Communist country.
H.R. 2121, the “China Democracy Promotion Act of 2011,” would enable the president to deny entry into the U.S. for Chinese government officials who have “committed human rights abuses” against people in China, including anyone who “has participated in the imposition of … China’s coercive birth limitation policy.”
The bill was introduced in June by Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), a longtime advocate for Chinese human rights victims, before it was referred last month to the Judiciary Committee’s immigration policy subcommittee.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas) has recently signed on as a co-sponsor, which WRWF notes could increase its chances of moving out of the Committee.
According to one international human rights advocate, the time is ripe for passing the bill.
“Decades ago, Congress barred foreign persecutors from obtaining asylum in the United States, to keep out former Nazi war criminals,” said Reggie Littlejohn, President of Women’s Rights Without Frontiers (WRWF).
“Why should Chinese officials who force women to have abortions, persecute ethnic minorities, torture people for their religious beliefs, repress public interest lawyers and jail journalists be treated any differently? These persecutors need to be held accountable. They do not deserve to set foot on U.S. soil.”
Both private and federal investigations have confirmed that Chinese officials implement China’s one-child policy through brutal procedures, such as forcing women to undergo abortions and sterilizations, or levying crippling fines. Human rights activists say as many as 35,000 abortions are performed in China each day, nearly ten times the rate of the United States.
Even should the bill pass, Littlejohn expressed concern that President Obama might not enforce it.
One of Obama’s first actions as president was to restore $50 million in taxpayer funding to the United Nations Population Fund, which the Bush administration had cut ties with after confirming its complicity in China’s coercive population control.
“Nothing in his record thus far indicates that President Obama would deny visas to Chinese government persecutors, at least where the One Child Policy is concerned,” she said.
Click here to sign WRWF’s petition against forced abortion and sexual slavery in China.