China's War on Women

By Emily McCordWhile human rights activism is improving the lives of millions around the globe daily, one frontier of human rights is still largely unpublicized and unchallenged. Forced sex-selective abortions and gendercide have caused as many as 200 million women to be declared “missing” around the globe.This issue looms especially large in China, where the one-child policy, 35 years old this month, places extreme pressure on families to have a son. In a culture where a high premium is placed on a male heir and where only one child is allowed, women are often pressured to abort baby females by their spouses and extended family.Furthermore, Chinese women who have a child in violation of the one-child policy or who are pregnant without a birth permit are often forced to undergo an abortion as well by local or district officials. Stories of women who have been dragged off of the streets and forced to undergo unwanted abortive procedures abound - furthermore, many women themselves die as the result of these procedures. China’s one-child policy has also caused an extreme gender imablance in China (there are 37 million more men in China than women) and a resulting epidemic of violations against women including dramatically increased sex-trafficing on the continent of Asia. One woman and her organization are working hard to raise awareness regarding this human rights travesty. Regge Littlejohn and Womens’ Rights Without Frontiers have recently created the Save A Girl campaign in an effort to educate Chinese women and protect them from forced abortions.Littlejohn is careful to emphasize that forced abortions and gendercide are not a partisan issue. Pro-life or pro-choice, Republica or Democrat, no one concerned about global human rights can support the practice of forced abortions. To learn more about the work of WRWF and China’s war on women, visit the website and follow the organization on Twitter for regular updates.