A women’s rights group has criticized the Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton for saying to the American public during Wednesday evening’s presidential debate that the practice of forced abortions is a thing of the past in China.
Clinton said during the debate on the topic of abortion that she has “been to countries where governments either forced women to have abortions, like they used to do in China,” using past tense to refer to the controversial practice.
Reggie Littlejohn, president of Women’s Rights Without Frontiers, said in a statement shared with The Christian Post that the forced abortions very much continue, however.
“With all her experience as former Secretary of State, it is untrue and deeply disappointing for Hillary Clinton to put the Chinese government’s practice of forced abortion in the past,” Littlejohn wrote.
“If she thinks that China no longer forces women to abort babies, she should explain that to a couple, surnamed Zhong, who in August of this year were forced to choose between an abortion at eight months or the loss of both of their government jobs. Or she should inform He Liping, who was forced either to pay an impossible ‘terror fine’ of $39,000 or face abortion at six months.”
Littlejohn has been speaking out against China’s policy for years, and has said that the new two-child policies do not solve the problem for Chinese families.
“The Chinese Communist Party has not agreed to get out of the bedrooms of the Chinese people, and Presidential candidates should not be stating or implying that they have,” she added.
“We need to keep the international pressure on the Chinese Communist Party until all coercive population control is eradicated.”
Clinton defended abortion rights during the debate, and said that she will appoint Supreme Court justices on the pro-choice side.
“We need a Supreme Court that will stand up on behalf of of women’s rights,” Clinton said about abortion.
Pro-life voices have strongly criticized Clinton’s remarks, with Marjorie Danenfelser, the head of Susan B. Anthony List, stating:
“Clinton’s position on abortion is wildly out of step with the majority of Americans who support a compassionate limit on abortion after five months and who do not want their tax dollars used to pay for abortion on-demand.”
In the past, Clinton has spoken out against China’s women’s rights record, and has criticized President Xi Jinping’s government arresting women’s rights activists who have protested against abuse.
Women’s Rights Without Frontiers also expressed its disappointment in 2014 with First Lady Michelle Obama for failing to speak out against forced abortions during her visit to China at the time.
“Mrs. Obama has positioned herself as an international women’s leader. She could have done so much good if she had been willing to use her position to advance women’s rights in a nation that tramples them,” Littlejohn wrote back then.
“Mrs. Obama has chosen to ignore the intense suffering of hundreds of millions of women who have been victims of forced abortion, involuntary sterilization, gendercide and sexual slavery.”
