[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2570 Referred in Senate (RFS)]

  1st Session
                                H. R. 2570


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            November 7, 1997

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 AN ACT


 
    To condemn those officials of the Chinese Communist Party, the 
Government of the People's Republic of China, and other persons who are 
  involved in the enforcement of forced abortions by preventing such 
        persons from entering or remaining in the United States.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Forced Abortion Condemnation Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) Forced abortion was rightly denounced as a crime 
        against humanity by the Nuremberg War Crimes Tribunal.
            (2) For over 15 years there have been frequent and credible 
        reports of forced abortion and forced sterilization in 
        connection with the population control policies of the People's 
        Republic of China. These reports indicate the following:
                    (A) Although it is the stated position of the 
                politburo of the Chinese Communist Party that forced 
                abortion and forced sterilization have no role in the 
                population control program, in fact the Communist 
                Chinese Government encourages both forced abortion and 
                forced sterilization through a combination of strictly 
                enforced birth quotas and immunity for local population 
                control officials who engage in coercion. Officials 
                acknowledge that there have been instances of forced 
                abortions and sterilization, and no evidence has been 
                made available to suggest that the perpetrators have 
                been punished.
                    (B) People's Republic of China population control 
                officials, in cooperation with employers and works unit 
                officials, routinely monitor women's menstrual cycles 
                and subject women who conceive without government 
                authorization to extreme psychological pressure, to 
                harsh economic sanctions, including unpayable fines and 
                loss of employment, and often to physical force.
                    (C) Official sanctions for giving birth to 
                unauthorized children include fines in amounts several 
                times larger than the per capita annual incomes of 
                residents of the People's Republic of China. In Fujian, 
                for example, the average fine is estimated to be twice 
                a family's gross annual income. Families which cannot 
                pay the fine may be subject to confiscation and 
                destruction of their homes and personal property.
                    (D) Especially harsh punishments have been 
                inflicted on those whose resistance is motivated by 
                religion. For example, according to a 1995 Amnesty 
                International report, the Catholic inhabitants of 2 
                villages in Hebei Province were subjected to population 
                control under the slogan ``better to have more graves 
                than one more child''. Enforcement measures included 
                torture, sexual abuse, and the detention of resisters' 
                relatives as hostages.
                    (E) Forced abortions in Communist China often have 
                taken place in the very late stages of pregnancy.
                    (F) Since 1994 forced abortion and sterilization 
                have been used in Communist China not only to regulate 
                the number of children, but also to eliminate those who 
                are regarded as defective in accordance with the 
                official eugenic policy known as the ``Natal and Health 
                Care Law''.

SEC. 3. DENIAL OF ENTRY INTO THE UNITED STATES OF PERSONS IN THE 
              PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA ENGAGED IN ENFORCEMENT OF 
              FORCED ABORTION POLICY.

    The Secretary of State may not issue any visa to, and the Attorney 
General may not admit to the United States, any national of the 
People's Republic of China, including any official of the Communist 
Party or the Government of the People's Republic of China and its 
regional, local, and village authorities (except the head of state, the 
head of government, and cabinet level ministers) who the Secretary 
finds, based on credible information, has been involved in the 
establishment or enforcement of population control policies resulting 
in a woman being forced to undergo an abortion against her free choice, 
or resulting in a man or woman being forced to undergo sterilization 
against his or her free choice.

SEC. 4. WAIVER.

    The President may waive the requirement contained in section 3 with 
respect to a national of the People's Republic of China if the 
President--
            (1) determines that it is in the national interest of the 
        United States to do so; and
            (2) provides written notification to the Congress 
        containing a justification for the waiver.

            Passed the House of Representatives November 6, 1997.

            Attest:

                                                ROBIN H. CARLE,

                                                                 Clerk.