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Each year, millions of aspiring mothers in China are forced to undergo abortions or sterilizations under the One-Child Policy. For the majority of Chinese people, pregnancy with a second child and any pregnancy without a birth permit is considered "out-of-plan" and therefore illegal. Family Planning Officials, tasked with ensuring "out-of-plan" children are never born, track down pregnant women and forcibly terminate pregnancies. Pregnancy termination methods can be unsafe, often lacking anesthetics and proper sanitation. The consequences can be hemorrhaging, infections, or lifelong injuries such as paralysis—in some cases even death.

(Photo: Feng Jianmei after the forced abortion of her 7-month-old baby in June 2012.)

forced abortion cases

Click here to read detailed reports of the latest forced abortion cases in China.

Statistics about Forced Abortion in China

Female Suicide in China

China is the only country in the world where women commit suicide more than men.[i]

In fact, the Beijing Suicide Research and Prevention Center reported in 2009 that the suicide rate for females was three times higher than for males.[ii]

Suicide is the #1 cause of death among Chinese rural women aged 15-34.[iii]

56% of the world’s female suicides occur in China, but only 20% of the world’s population lives in China.[iv]

500 women commit suicide in China each day.[v]

Easy access to pesticides contributes to the prevalence of suicides among rural women.[vi]

Violence against women and girls, discrimination in education and employment, the traditional preference for male children, birth-limitation policies, and other societal factors contribute to the high female suicide rate.[vii]

Abortion Statistics in China

Chinese data show that 13 million abortions are performed each year, for an average rate of 35,000 abortions per day.[viii]

About 27.3% of women in their 20’s—about 27.3 million women—have had an abortion.[ix]

In 2000, more than half of all abortions in China were a result of prenatal sex selection.[x]

One survey of 8,846 women showed that of those women who have had one abortion, 35.97% have another abortion shortly after the first one.[xi]

An average of 8 million women undergo abortions every year in China.[xii]

The abortion rate among women in China is 29.3%, which far exceeds the average level of other developed nations; in the population of 20-29 year-old young women, the abortion rate is 62%.[xiii]

In Shanghai, Beijing and other large cities, the rate of repeat abortion is higher than 50%.[xiv]

Regulations requiring women who violate family-planning policy to terminate their pregnancies still exist in the 25th, 42nd, and 22nd provisions of the Population and Family Control Regulation of Liaoning, Jilin, and Heilongjiang provinces, respectively. An additional 10 provinces--Fujian, Guizhou, Guangdong, Gansu, Jiangxi, Qinghai, Sichuan, Shanxi, Shaanxi, and Yunnan--require unspecified "remedial measures" to deal with unauthorized pregnancies.[xv]

While some researchers have suggested that Hepatitis is responsible for the high sex ratio, this is not supported by the evidence.  Looking at the 2000 census data, if a second child is a male it will arrive, on average, 4 months later than a second born female.  This delay in birth indicates that there is human intervention, abortions or infanticide, taking place before the birth of a male second child.[xvi]

Annual Abortion Numbers by Country[xvii]

Women’s Rights in China

China’s female life expectancy gives it a ranking of 150^th in the world, behind Liberia and Gabon.[xviii]

China’s female enrollment in school is ranked 107^th in the world, behind Mauritania and Iran, and just ahead of Malawi.[xix]

Of all seats in parliament, 21% are held by women in China.  9% of ministerial positions are held by women in China.[xx]

China’s international ranking with regard to female political participation dropped from 12^th place in 1994 to 52^nd in 2009.[xxi]

Women make up over 60% of the rural workforce, but only just over 10% of village committee members.[xxii]

Less than 8 percent of the National Governing Committee (CCPC) is comprised of women; only one woman is a member of the CCPC’s Politburo, and no women sit on the Politburo Standing Committee.[xxiii]

In 2009, women headed two of the country’s 28 ministries, and one woman is the governor of a province.[xxiv]

Chinese law states that women should occupy at least 50% of government positions at the national, provincial and city level.[xxv]

A 2008 report by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences indicated that the monthly wage of female migrant workers in China is 910.78 yuan (US$132), nearly 200 yuan (US$29) lower than the average wage of male migrant workers.[xxvi]

When comparing college graduates with similar educational backgrounds, one 2009 survey conducted by a private company found that men’s monthly earnings could be as high as 800 yuan (US$116) more than women’s.[xxvii]

According to a September 2009 All-China Women’s Federation survey, over 90 percent of the female college students interviewed felt they had experienced gender discrimination in their job searches.[xxviii]

According to a survey cited in a February 2010 Women’s Watch-China report, 15 percent of the companies surveyed pay higher wages to male employees than to their female counterparts for the same work.[xxix]

Another survey released in March 2010 by an educational consulting firm reportedly revealed that, of the students who found jobs, males earned an average of 361 yuan (US$53) per month more than females.[xxx]

According to a China University of Political Science and Law survey report released in July 2010, employment discrimination occurs at a high frequency in 60.7% of state-operated enterprises, 43.44% of government agencies, and 38.61% of public institutions.[xxxi]

Job postings in the prosperous Shenzhen Special Economic Zone specifically expressed interest in men over women, and those that did include women inquired about marital status, proof of birth control and childbirth history.[xxxii]

Mandatory retirement ages for women in China continue to be five years earlier than those for men.[xxxiii]

The problem of domestic violence remains widespread, affecting nearly one-third of China’s 270 million families, according to a November 2009 People’s Daily report.[xxxiv]

While domestic violence tended to be more prevalent in rural areas, it also took place among the highly educated urban population. The ACWF reported that approximately one-quarter of the 400,000 divorces registered each year were the result of family violence.[xxxv]

According to a May 2010 survey published by the Qian Qian law firm, 17.2% of the women surveyed reported experiencing sexual harassment from their bosses, 28.7% reported experiencing sexual harassment from their colleagues, and 54.1% expressed that they had experienced sexual harassment from people other than their bosses or colleagues, such as clients, patients, and others with whom they must interact for work purposes.[xxxvi]

One-Child Policy Punishment in China

Mandatory abortion, which is often referred to as “remedial measures” (bujiu cuoshi) in government reports, is endorsed explicitly as an official policy instrument in the regulations of 18 of China's 31 provincial-level jurisdictions.[xxxvii]

Severe government fines pose a dilemma between undergoing an unwanted abortion and incurring potentially overwhelming financial costs.[xxxviii]

Children may go without household registration (hukou) in China because they are born out of plan and their parents do not pay the necessary fines.  Lack of a valid hukou raises barriers to access to social benefits typically linked to the hukou, including subsidized healthcare and public education.[xxxix]

There are 300,000 officials whose job is to enforce the One-Child Policy, and a total of 92 million members who help out with enforcement.[xl]

Officials are given a financial incentive structure to meet abortion and sterilization quotas, leading to extortion and coercion.[xli]

The vaginas of rural women are routinely checked to ensure that there was no recent birth.[xlii]

The law states that family-planning bureaus will conduct pregnancy tests on married women and provide them with unspecified "follow-up" services. Some provinces fined women who did not undergo periodic pregnancy tests.[xliii]

In 2008, Chongqing out-of-quota residents were imposed fines of between 5,000 yuan (US$731) and 10,000 yuan (US$1,464) if they refused to perform an abortion, in addition to the ordinary social compensation fee of 2,000 yuan (US$293) to 5,000 yuan (US$731).[xliv]

In 2008, Shanxi couples were assessed a social compensation fee equal to 20% of a couple’s combined income once each year for seven years; for a third child, the fine rose to 40% of combined income for 14 years.[xlv]

According to economist Ebenstein, higher fines lead to an increased sex ratio.  He calculates that a 100% increase in the fine for an additional child leads to about a 1% increase in the fraction of male births.[xlvi]

Local governments offer monetary incentives to citizen informants who report violations of population planning regulations.[xlvii]

In one case, Qianxi officials face a penalty of 1,000 yuan (US$147) for each woman with two children that they fail to sterilize, and conversely, they are promised a reward of the same amount for each tubal ligation that they see through to completion.[xlviii]

Many provinces link job promotion with an officials ability to meet or exceed population planning targets, thus providing a powerful structural incentive for officials to employ coercive measures in order to meet population goals.[xlix]

An example of abortion quotas: in 2009, Yunnan officials developed a implementation plan that outlined abortion targets for specific groups: ‘‘strictly prohibit the birth of multiple children; for women who have multiple out-of-plan children and become pregnant again, the abortion rate must reach 100 percent; for women who have two out-of-plan children and become pregnant again, the abortion rate must exceed 90 percent; for women who have one out-of-plan child and become pregnant again, the abortion rate must exceed 85 percent.’’[l]

In 2007, Hubei expelled 500 cadres and dismissed 395 government officials, including 3 provincial

lawmakers and 4 members of the local Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), for having ‘‘unauthorized’’children.[li]

From February to April, 2010, Xuzhou, Jiangsu Province was the site of a high-profile court proceeding in which a 30-year-old female plaintiff sued the local Family Planning Bureau, claiming that she had been barred from a civil service position in the county government for giving birth to a child before marriage. Although she married the father soon after the child's birth, the court ruled that the Family Planning

Bureau's original decree citing the birth as out of wedlock held, which did make her ineligible for the government position.[lii]

Teachers who violate birth quotas are at risk of losing their retirement benefits.[liii]

In one province, officials in 2010 vowed to engage in a “100-day battle” in which they would “insist without wavering on the principle of IUD insertion after the first child, surgical sterilization after the second child, and abortion of out-of-plan pregnancies.”[liv]

One Guangdong law gives these orders to officials:  “Strictly prohibit out-of-plan second births or multiple births; those who have out-of-plan pregnancies must adopt abortion measures, force those who exceed birth limits to have an abortion. Out-of-plan children will not be allowed to enjoy benefits for villagers; for a period of 15 years, parents of out-of-plan children will not be allowed to enjoy benefits for villagers, gain employment at a village-run enterprise, or be granted documents.”[lv]

When the Family Planning Police sterilize women for violating the One-Child Policy, these sterilizations are most often not performed by highly trained gynecological surgeons, especially in the countryside. Often, there are infections and other complications.[lvi]

The One-Child Policy seems to be causally linked to the increased sex ratio in China. Mothers who face stricter restrictions and higher fines are more likely to have a son once they are facing possible punishment.  One example is the birth rates of women who have had a single daughter.  The sex ratio of children born after this first daughter changes based on the policy being enforced, with the mothers in the one child area being 3 percentage points more likely to have a son.[lvii]

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