Thursday, November 20, 2008

Pregnant woman facing forced abortion in China allowed to leave hospital - still pregnant!

Regarding the post I made about the woman in China who was six months pregnant and who was being held at the hospital pending an abortion, she has been allowed to leave the hospital - with her baby still in the womb. There was so much international outcry from the media attention this story received that the government said she was "not healthy enough" to undergo the abortion procedure so they let her go home. I will continue to monitor this situation. I am interested to see if they allow her to keep this child when he/she is born. I've read other stories of the hospital staff "confiscating" the baby once it's born if the parents have exceeded their child limit.

A Chinese paper reports that "The Chinese government reportedly has backed down amid international outrage, reversing a decision to force a Uighur woman who is six months pregnant to abort her child under Beijing’s notorious population control policies. Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported that Arzigul Tursun had been released from enforced hospitalization in China’s far northwestern Xinjiang region and allowed to return home to continue her pregnancy."
You can read the full report here:

http://uyghurcongress.net/En/News.asp?ItemID=-1589745541

I am thankful for Mrs. Tursun, but we need to continue to be in prayer for the women in China who are being forced to submit to sterilization and abortions against their will.

Some of the women are not opposed to the abortions, requirements for a birth permit and sterilization procedures. For these women, I pray that the Lord will touch their hearts so that they realize how precious each of these unborn children are.

For the women who are opposed to the government's coercive tactics, my heart breaks. I can't imagine how painful it would be to see us with our large families and know that you were not allowed to have more than one child or you were forced to murder an unborn child. I just really can't imagine living with that sorrow.

Sonya

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