[Mrluvaluva]

A photo purporting to show a baby whose mother was forced to have an abortion has shocked Chinese internet users.

Feng Jiamei, from Zhenping county in Shaanxi, was allegedly made to undergo the procedure by local officials in the seventh month of pregnancy.

Ms Feng was forced into the abortion as she couldn't pay the fine for having a second child, US-based activists said.

Rights groups say China's one-child policy has meant women being coerced into abortions, which Beijing denies.

National and local family planning authorities are investigating the incident, the Global Times newspaper reports.

"Feng Jianmei's story demonstrates how the One-Child Policy continues to sanction violence against women every day," said Chai Ling of the US-based activist group All Girls Allowed.

The group says it spoke to Ms Feng and her husband Deng Jiyuan after the incident. Mr Deng said his wife had been forcibly taken to hospital and restrained before the procedure.

Unnamed local officials in Zhenping county quoted in local media reports denied forcing Ms Feng to have the abortion.

"This is what they say the Japanese devils and Nazis did. But it's happening in reality and it is by no means the only case... They [the officials] should be executed," one reader on news website netease.com said, according to Agence France-Presse.

Activist Chen Guangcheng, who was put under virtual house arrest for campaigning against forced abortions, fled China to the US last month.


BBC


The photos are quite graphic, so don't click if you do not want to see.

Spoiler:

Although China has these laws to try and keep their population somewhat at bay, surely the by product of these laws, such as in this case, is morally wrong? Whether you believe in abortion or not, terminating a babies life at 7 months or more is surely not right? And being forced to do so because of a huge fine? I would not even be able to hazard a guess at the number of girls that had been aborted due to these rules, and women coerced into forced sterilization.

[arista]

"This is what they say the Japanese devils and Nazis did."

Yes , if true,
is getting more Evil in China

[Livia]

This has been going on for years in China because of their "One Child Policy". Have a look at their orphanages full of girls (obviously not valued as highly as boys), and the girls in the orphanages are the lucky ones, many are killed or left to die. Forced abortion and forced sterilisation are not uncommon. Strangely, the One Child Policty doesn't apply to everyone, just the Han Chinese in urban areas. But China is a fast-developing nation and a major economic power, so obviously because they have cash we can overlook any human rights violations they may may commit... apparently.

[Kizzy]

Thought there had been a rethink on the one child policy, as there had been a realisation it would not produce enough labour and support for the economy or the growing population of elderly chinese?

[Tom4784]

It's monstrous, I'm as pro choice as you can be but late term abortions are barbaric and the thought that a government could force a woman into one is disgusting. A lot of dark rumours come out of China and it's stories like this that makes me believe they could be true.

The planet will never have true civilisation, until women in all parts of the world are allowed to control their own reproductive systems.

[Jords]

Sickening :/

[arista]

Well done SkyNewsHD
just gave us a update
China has said its Criminal what went on
and the staff have been removed.

[fruit_cake]

abortion makes my blood boil

[Kazanne]

China and the like need to sort out their human rights and try to be civilized,i cannot say i am surpised at this as their treatment of animals is barbaric,and the way they toss away baby girls is nothing short of murder,they may be way ahead in technology,but as a people they need to take a good look at themselves.this poor baby,aborted at 7 mths by having poison pumped into her brain ,words fail me,just sad,so sad.

[Mrluvaluva]

A Chinese woman whose unborn child was forcibly aborted by local authorities has received an apology from officials in the Chinese city of Zhenping.

The apology came after a disturbing photograph of 23-year-old Feng Jianmei lying in her hospital bed with her aborted foetus next to her was distributed on social networking sites in China.

The foetus was aborted by a lethal injection into its head during the seventh month of pregnancy.

According to the US-based activist group All Girls Allowed, Ms Feng was forced to have the abortion because she already had one child.

A second child would break the country’s one child policy. She was told to pay a fine of 40,000 yuan (£4,000), but was unable to afford it.

In a rare move, perhaps as a result of internet publicity about the case, the local government has acknowledged that the procedure was illegal because it was conducted beyond the six-month limit for abortions.

Three officials are understood to have been suspended following initial investigations.

China’s Global Times newspaper claims to have spoken to Ms Feng’s husband, Deng Jiyuan.

"The county government detained my wife in a rented house on May 30. She almost killed herself out of panic," Mr Deng told the newspaper.

In a separate interview with the All Girls Allowed activist group, Mr Deng described how five men forcibly gave Ms Feng an injection after making her sign an abortion agreement.

“At the hospital, they held her down. They covered her head with a pillow case. She could not do anything because they were restraining her.”

A statement released by the Zhenping county family planning bureau gave a different account.

It claimed that Ms Feng had not been held against her will and that she had agreed to the abortion in line with China’s one child policy.

Under Chinese law, couples who wish to have more than one child must apply for permission from their local family planning bureau. Forms must be filled in and approved.

Officials say they approached Ms Feng with the forms in her third month of pregnancy.

It is not clear why she failed to fill in the forms, but it is thought she was later offered a deal: pay a fee of £4,000 to be allowed to keep the baby.

But Ms Feng and her husband were unable to pay the fee.

"They did not notify us until several days before the injection, when they asked us to bring 40,000 yuan before the deadline they set, which we failed to do," her husband was quoted as saying.

The disturbing photograph shows Ms Feng lying in her hospital bed. Her dead child is lying next to her.

It is thought the photo was taken by her cousin and posted online.

It was quickly distributed through social networking sites including Weibo, China’s version of Twitter.

Blind Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng, who was allowed to travel to the United States in May, rose to prominence seven years ago for campaigning against forced abortions done in the name of the one child policy.


Sky


And I wonder if such an apology would have been made without such worldwide publicity of this story? Although, this is just 1 case, and apologies can't always repair such damage.