[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 2 (Thursday, January 24, 2002)]
[House]
[Pages H50-H51]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      THERE IS NO CHOICE IN CHINA

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Pence) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. PENCE. Mr. Speaker, a woman 4 months pregnant flees to her 
mother's village to avoid a forced abortion in China. Her brother, two 
sisters and three other relatives are arrested as bargaining chips to 
enforce China's brutal one-child-per-family policy.

                              {time}  1145

  Three of her families' homes are destroyed. A second woman, 19 years 
of age, is told that she is too young to have a baby. She does not meet 
the government's age requirements for pregnancy. Her friends who 
accompanied her to the local clinic for her mandatory abortion all nod 
vigorously when asked by an undercover investigator if the young lady 
would like to keep the baby. ``But the law forbids it,'' they add. 
Sound barbaric?
  There is no doubt, Mr. Speaker, on this week where millions of 
Americans on either side of the debate over abortion gathered in our 
Nation's capital,

[[Page H51]]

those of us who endorse what we call the right to life and many 
thousands that endorse a woman's right to choose debated the question 
of choice. But let us all understand on this week when we foment this 
debate in Washington, Mr. Speaker, that there is no choice in China.
  China's indefensible population control programs, though, do not just 
have their detractors in the world. They actually have their promoters, 
some of whom are sponsored by the United States Government. The United 
Nations Population Fund, also known as the UNFPA, Mr. Speaker, has 
described China's forced abortion policy as a, quote, remarkable 
achievement. Proving their moral bankruptcy, Sven Burmester, the 
representative for the U.N. Population Fund in Beijing, said, ``China 
has the most successful family planning policy in the history of 
mankind in terms of quantity, and with that,'' he added, ``China has 
done mankind a favor.''
  Also proving the moral bankruptcy of the UNFPA, Mr. Burmester of the 
Fund said, in effect, my own view is that there is a generation of 
Chinese who have sacrificed themselves to benefit society, and that 
generation, presumably the generation expensed in China's policy of 
forced abortion, is to be recognized.
  But the U.N. Population Fund, Mr. Speaker, recently received a 
significant increase in its funding from the U.S. Government. There 
will be those who will say at the UNFPA that they only work in regions 
where the Chinese government has suspended its oppressive one-child 
policy. However, testimony in a recent House International Relations 
Committee hearing revealed photographs of a UNFPA office located within 
the China Office of Family Planning. The testimony also uncovered 
evidence that the UNFPA is active in Sihui County in China in which 
family planning is decidedly not voluntary. Officials have imposed age 
requirements there for pregnancy and require birth permits, mandatory 
sterilization and forced abortion. Those who refuse to comply with 
these standards face fines, imprisonment and often the destruction of 
their homes and property. There is no choice in China, Mr. Speaker.
  But, sadly, in the waning days of the first session of the 107th 
Congress, the UNFPA in the foreign operations bill recently received a 
58 percent increase in its funding, $34 million, U.S. taxpayer paid. 
The Mexico City Policy prohibits Federal funding of groups that perform 
or even promote abortion services overseas.
  So I rise today, Mr. Speaker, to urge the administration, as I did 
before over 100,000 pro-life citizens on the National Mall on Tuesday, 
I rise today to urge the administration to enforce the Mexico City 
Policy, to seize the Kemp Kasten language in the foreign operations 
bill and do what President Ronald Reagan did and do what President 
George Herbert Walker Bush did, and that is render the amount the 
foreign operations bill has provided to the UNFPA to zero. The people 
of the United States of America deserve better than to have their 
taxpayer dollars used to foment and to promote an organization that 
praises China's forced abortion policy.

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