SAN FRANCISCO, January 30, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A U.S. appeals court has decided in a 10-1 ruling to grant asylum to Chinese nationals Xu Ming Li and Xin Kui Yu who fled that country in 1998 after warrants were released for their arrest. The couple, who were denied a marriage licence in China because they were not yet of legal age, were threatened with forced sterilization and abortion.
Family planning officials, acting on a false rumour that Li was pregnant, ordered the couple to end their relationship. When Li defiantly told the official that she would have many babies, he returned two days later to forcibly restrain her while doctors gave her an invasive half-hour gynecological exam. “Even by rudimentary medical standards, the examination that followed was crude and aggressive,” the panel ruled. “The timing and physical force associated with the examination compelled the conclusion that its purpose was intimidation, and not legitimate medical practice.” Li and Yu’s attorney, Robert B. Jobe, said that although the decision doesn’t necessarily open a new door for Chinese women seeking asylum in the U.S., it will “help many women from China.” Jobe called the earlier rulings, such as the December 2002 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision which denied asylum to the couple “downright offensive.” See earlier, related LifeSiteNews.com coverage: Japan Charges Woman Seeking Asylum from Forced Abortion https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/1998/jul/98070803.html Update on Chinese Woman Forced to Abort after Deportation https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/1999/jun/99060804.html Chinese Woman Who Underwent Forced Abortion Accuses UNFPA https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2002/jan/02012403.html China Orders County to Abort at Least 20,000 Babies by End of Year https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2001/aug/01080703.html