A Chinese court refused to hear the case, in what may be the first time a citizen has sought legal damages against the government over forced sterilization or abortion.
Family planning regulations in 22 out of China’s 31 provinces explicitly instruct officials to implement coercive measures such as forced abortions as their supposed remedy to solve the issue of 'out-of-plan' pregnancies.
Illegal clinics are luring high school and college-age girls in China with the promise of large payments for their eggs. The procedure can damage the girls’ health and future child-bearing, and the clinics are offering no legal or medical help if complications ensue.
A panel at the American Jewish Historical Society warned that the stories of Jewish women forced to abort 'have a lot of resonance today and in many other instances of genocide.'
The next time you read dry, faceless statistics about forced abortion in China, remind yourself that behind the numbers are real women and real babies – like Yang Pingan and the babies she lost under China’s “one child per family” law.