[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 705 Introduced in House (IH)]







110th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 705

 Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the Chinese 
 Communist Party should be condemned for engaging in coercive abortion 
                   practices, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            October 2, 2007

 Mr. Bilirakis (for himself, Ms. Ros-Lehtinen, Mr. Burton of Indiana, 
Mr. McCotter, Mr. Franks of Arizona, Mr. Renzi, Mr. Souder, Mr. Feeney, 
Mr. Tiberi, Mr. Ryan of Ohio, and Mr. Aderholt) submitted the following 
   resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
 Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the Chinese 
 Communist Party should be condemned for engaging in coercive abortion 
                   practices, and for other purposes.

Whereas the People's Republic of China is an authoritarian police state in which 
        the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is the paramount source of power;
Whereas the citizens of China do not vote for the members of the CCP;
Whereas the citizens of China do not have the right under Chinese law to change 
        their government;
Whereas the unelected members of the CCP have implemented a one child policy the 
        goal of which, with some exceptions, is to limit each couple in China to 
        one child;
Whereas the CCP, and government officials obliged to enforce the CCP's one child 
        policy, have violated and continue to violate the rights of women and 
        citizens of China by engaging in economic and physical coercion in 
        pursuit of the CCP's one child policy;
Whereas the CCP has passed a law which purports to prohibit the use of physical 
        coercion (but not economic coercion) to compel persons to submit to 
        abortion or sterilization, and holds this law out to the international 
        community and its own people as evidence that there is no such problem 
        in China;
Whereas, however, this CCP propaganda is contradicted in the Department of 
        State's Report on Human Rights Practices in China, published on March 6, 
        2007, in which the Department of State determined--

    (1) the CCP's birth planning policies utilize harshly coercive elements 
in law and practice;

    (2) the penalties for violating the law are strict, leaving some women 
little choice but to abort pregnancies;

    (3) reports of forced sterilizations and abortions continued to be 
documented in rural areas;

    (4) officials who help persons evade the birth limitations are subject 
to significant sanctions;

    (5) social compensation fees for violations of the one child policy are 
set and assessed against mothers and families at the local level, enabling 
corrupt officials to enrich themselves while zealously enforcing the one 
child policy;

    (6) forcible action is used as an enforcement mechanism, such as 
detaining family members or confiscating and destroying property of 
families who refuse to or cannot pay social compensation fees;

    (7) seven provinces require ``termination of pregnancy'' if the 
pregnancy violates provincial family planning regulations;

    (8) an additional 10 provinces require unspecified ``remedial 
measures'' to deal with out-of-plan pregnancies;

    (9) it continues to be illegal in almost all provinces for a single 
woman to have a child; in fact, social compensation fees are levied on 
unwed mothers;

    (10) the country's population control policy relies not only on 
education, propaganda, and economic incentives, but on more coercive 
measures such as the threat of job loss or demotion; those who violate the 
child limit policy by having an unapproved child or helping another to do 
so face disciplinary measures such as job loss or demotion or loss of 
promotion opportunity; imposing fines and refusing to allow persons to 
return to work based solely on the fact that the woman became pregnant or 
gave birth to more than one child is commonplace; and

    (11) in the case of families that already had two children, one parent 
was often pressured to undergo sterilization; these penalties sometimes 
left women with little practical choice but to undergo abortion or 
sterilization;

Whereas on September 1, 2002, China adopted the Population and Family Planning 
        Law, which requires couples who have an unapproved child to pay a 
        ``social compensation fee'';
Whereas the social compensation fee policy is a harsh and effective enforcement 
        tool that is used to force women to have an abortion by imposing fines 
        that ranged from one-half to 10 times the average worker's annual 
        disposable income;
Whereas the CCP publicly admits that it does not consider the social 
        compensation fee and other administrative punishments to be coercive;
Whereas the one child policy of the CCP results in the citizens of China being 
        forced to make horrific choices regarding the life and death of unborn 
        children;
Whereas many families use ultrasound to identify female fetuses and terminate 
        pregnancies, due to the preference for male children in China and the 
        penalties imposed for having more than one child, particularly in rural 
        areas;
Whereas an official study in Hainan Province found that 68 percent of abortions 
        were of female fetuses, where pregnancy was terminated in the hope that 
        the next child (and only child permitted) would be a male;
Whereas according to a 2002 survey, 35 percent of women in one rural township 
        admitted to having an abortion because of a preference for a male child;
Whereas female babies also suffer from a higher mortality rate than male babies, 
        contrary to the worldwide norm;
Whereas state media report that infant mortality rates in rural areas are 27 
        percent higher for girls than boys, and a higher percentage of girls are 
        found in orphanages;
Whereas the CCP's claims that it does not use coercion to enforce the one child 
        policy are further refuted by the imprisonment of Chen Guangchen; Mr. 
        Chen is a blind activist who was working on behalf of victims of the one 
        child policy; Mr. Chen accused local health workers in Shandong Province 
        of forcing people to have late-term abortions and sterilizations;
Whereas local rights activists documented cases of forced late-term abortions, 
        and at least 7,000 people had been forced to submit to sterilization 
        procedures;
Whereas in 2006, Time Magazine named Mr. Chen as one of the world's 100 most 
        influential people for exposing the atrocities;
Whereas the response of the CCP was to silence Mr. Chen by accusing him of 
        frivolous law violations, arresting his attorney on the eve of trial, 
        and imprisoning Mr. Chen for 4 years and 3 months;
Whereas despite international protests, Mr. Chen remains incarcerated;
Whereas on August 24, 2007, Yuan Weijing, the wife of Chen Guangcheng, was 
        kidnapped from Beijing Airport by authorities and beaten as she 
        attempted to fly to the Philippines to accept an award on behalf of her 
        imprisoned husband; and
Whereas Yuan Weijing was forcibly returned to her home village: Now, therefore, 
        be it
    Resolved, That--
            (1) the House of Representatives declares that--
                    (A) pregnant women in China possess a fundamental, 
                inalienable right to carry their pregnancies to term 
                and to deliver their children free from coercive 
                tactics designed to force a woman to abort her child;
                    (B) the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and 
                government officials in China have no right to impose a 
                fine, dismiss from employment, or in any way punish a 
                pregnant woman, her spouse or members of her family 
                based solely on the pregnant woman's exercise of her 
                inalienable right to carry her pregnancy to term and 
                deliver her child;
                    (C) Article 16 of the Universal Declaration of 
                Human Rights, adopted and proclaimed by United Nations 
                General Assembly Resolution 217 A (III) of December 10, 
                1948, provides that adult men and women ``have the 
                right to marry and to found a family''; and
                    (D) the use of the power of the government by the 
                CCP to coerce abortion and sterilization is immoral, 
                reprehensible, and a violation of the Universal 
                Declaration of Human Rights;
            (2) the House of Representatives expresses its regrets and 
        condolences to the innocent victims of the CCP's one-child 
        policy; and
            (3) it is the sense of the House of Representatives that 
        the United States Government should publicly condemn the CCP's 
        one child policy, coerced abortions, and coerced sterilizations 
        at appropriate United Nations bodies and other international 
        and multi-national forums, and ensure that preparations for 
        such actions be made at appropriately high levels and with the 
        widest possible support from other United Nations member 
        states.
                                 <all>