Chinese Woman Seeks Justice After Officials Force Abortion at 9 Months, Remove Uterus
Encouraged by the public outcry over the recent forced abortion of a 7-month pregnant woman in China, another woman has come out to share her horror story.
Zhang Wen Fang was nine months pregnant when she was forced to have an abortion. Not only did she lose her baby but family planning officials also removed her uterus, cervix, fallopian tubes and right ovary without her consent.
The incident took place in May 2008. Zhang, who is now 43, shared her story with Chai Ling, founder of All Girls Allowed. She was inspired to step forward after hearing the backlash against the Chinese government over Feng Jianmei's brutal abortion.
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It was on May 23 when nearly a dozen family planning officials entered Zhang's home and dragged her into a van to take her to the People's Hospital. They induced labor and injected an unknown chemical into her stomach.
"I pulled the needle out," she recalled to Ling.
But her protests proved futile as she was held down and injected with a second needle.
Two days later, she began having contractions and her water broke. Though she cried for help, she was ignored. She then lost consciousness.
The following day, she woke up in extreme pain. The baby was gone and the officials and doctors would not tell her whether it was alive or dead, she recounted.
The horror continued when Zhang then found out that her uterus was removed. Her mother was forced to sign a form accepting that fact. It was also later revealed that much of her reproductive organs were gone.
"I often have dreams about the baby," Zhang told Ling as she cried. "In those dreams, a child is looking at me and crying, asking, 'Mommy, can you save me?'"
Since the incident, Zhang has been confined to a wheelchair and suffers severe kidney malfunction. She also lost her once successful trucking business and her husband left her.
When she tried petitioning the government, Mr. Guo, the deputy minister of the Family Planning Committee in Hong Hu, rejected her plea.
"I removed the uteruses of 1,000 women, and no one dared to say a word to me," he told her.
Zhang went to the local authorities as recently as last month in hopes of an investigation. But she was turned down and severely beaten by police. Her life was also threatened.
According to Ling, Zhang asked Jesus to guide her life during their conversation last week.
Now, by sharing her story, she hopes to see justice.
"I want justice. I would like to get help. I am forever handicapped. My other child is like an orphan, without much support; I am now dependent on my aging mother," she said. "I would like to see the perpetrators receive justice by law. I would like to ensure that no more families ever have to go through what I have been through, to be butchered like this."
Her testimony comes as pro-life groups and the general public are protesting China's family planning policies and human rights abuses. Many expressed shock at Feng's story when it came out earlier this month.
Feng also went through a similar ordeal of being dragged to the hospital and injected with toxins. She ended up giving birth to a stillborn daughter. A photo of her and her deceased child lying next to her was posted on the Web.
Though the Chinese government apologized for Feng's forced abortion and punished local officials, the abuse is continuing, according to All Girls Allowed. Officials have led men in her village to denounce her as a "traitor" and call for her beating. Her husband, Deng Jiyuan, has also been run out of the village.
China enforces a one-child policy, which applies to couples living in urban areas. A maximum of two children are allowed for couples living in rural areas if the first child is a girl. More than 13 million abortions are performed each year in China.
