2012 Report on Gendercide and the One-Child Policy
2 New enrollees in the Baby Shower Gift Program
Dear friends of All Girls Allowed, This year saw the fruit of your support and your prayers. Thank you for helping us spread the word about gendercide and the One-Child Policy! Your efforts have strengthened this movement in its second year, and I now have more hope than ever that the One-Child Policy will soon be little more than an ugly piece of history. This hope is rooted in the power of our mighty God, who promises that justice will reign: O LORD, you hear the desire of the afflicted; you will strengthen their heart; you will incline your ear to do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed, so that man who is of the earth may strike terror no more. - Psalm 10:17-18 ESV I yearn for the day that women and girls in China are freed from the injustice of the One-Child Policy. The stories of injustice in the following pages will show you why it is urgently necessary for the policy to end. They are stories of unspeakable grief and loss. Each one is also a story of courage: every such woman who shares her story with the world risks severe consequences for exposing abuses inflicted by the Chinese government. As an exiled leader of the 1989 Tiananmen Square Student Movement, I know the severity of this risk firsthand. But Zhang Wenfang put it best when sharing about her forced abortion: “I would like to ensure that no more families ever have to go through what I have been through.” The bravery of these women and the volunteers who help them will ensure the story is different for future mothers in China. In fact, things are already changing! The stories of rescue and redemption in this report will help you see why I believe the One-Child Policy can end very soon. In China, our network is expanding as courageous men and women rescue and restore lives. These brothers and sisters are fueled by a desire to share the love of Jesus. Their compassion for girls and women springs directly from the sacrificial, unconditional, boundless love of our Savior − the same love that motivated our mission statement’s new pledge: “In Jesus’ Name, Simply Love Her.” They inspire me. Meanwhile, people just like you are joining the movement every day − supporting baby girls, exposing the horrors of gendercide, and calling for change through every means possible. One woman penned twenty letters to representatives in Congress after Cao Ruyi was detained for a forced abortion. Another called the hospital where she was held and pled for her release. These supporters inspire me, too. Thank you for standing up for women and girls in China. Please join me in both celebrating what God has done and praying for further miracles. He will do more than we can ask or imagine! With hope,
Chai Ling (柴岭) Founder of All Girls Allowed
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A Look Back at Year 1 As we celebrate the progress made in our second year, we want to remember the ways that God answered prayer in the first year after All Girls Allowed’s founding on June 1st, 2010.
Between that day and June 1st, 2011, when All Girls Allowed launched a bipartisan coalition in Congress to end gendercide, some incredible things took place. 550 girls were rescued from gendercide through the Baby Shower Gift Program. We launched a website designed to be a research portal on gendercide and the One-Child Policy. At a hearing in Congress, Liu Ping and Ji Yeqing shared about their seven forced abortions in China. In January 2011, our workers in China saved three-year-old “Little Bean” from traffickers and reunited her with her parents. We sent 25 Orphaned girls to school. These are just a few of our first year’s milestones. They form the first phase of All Girls Allowed’s vision: exposing gendercide and forced abortion while piloting rescue programs on the ground in China.
The Chen Twins 4
Shi Zonghe, an abandoned orphan
Miss Li and her two oldest daughters
Ji Yeqing
Little Bean and her parents
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07 Entering Phase II 08 All Girls Allowed in Year 2 09 Year 2 Timeline 10 A Heart for Freedom
12 Injustices that Moved the World to Action 14 Feng Jianmei 16 Cao Ruyi 18 Zhang Wenfang
Table of Contents
20 EXPOSE 22 Statistics 28 China Reacts
24 Gendercide 30 Infant Abandonment
26 Forced Abortion
32 RESCUE 34 Baby Shower Gifts 36 Defending Mothers 38 Reuniting Trafficked Children
40 CELEBRATE 42 Prayer Movement 45 Sevenly Campaign 48 The Red Sea 6
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Table of Contents
44 All Girls Allowed in Rome 46 Volunteer Spotlight
51 Will you help save a baby girl’s life?
Entering Phase II In the second phase of All Girls Allowed, we have A guiding word for us, received from the Lord in prayer, begun to expand the pilot rescue operations in is this: “In Jesus’ name, simply love her.” We act in Gendercide China. We engage this with a renewed desire Jesus’ name because he is our good news − the source to lift up the name of Jesus in our work. of true life, value and dignity. We simply love her After all, the problem of gendercide is so because we desire to follow Jesus in loving and big that we know we cannot end it with freeing the oppressed by lifting the heavy yoke abortion, abuse, our own limited resources. The only that burdens our sisters in China. abandonment, and other evils one with the power to end injustice, free the oppressed, and “bind up We want the kind of change with the brokenhearted” is Jesus. deep, eternal significance. That is We trust that Jesus will end why our workers are committed to broken view of the relationships between injustice in China by visibly sharing the good news of Jesus’ men and women transforming the lives and love and compassion when they relationships of believers encourage families to keep in the Chinese church, girls or when they help making these pregnant women find a need for healing in Jesus and an identity as a beloved believers a loving way to avoid a forced or child of God example to their coerced abortion. communities. This "Gendercide Pyramid" illustrates how China's gendercide comes from underlying layers of struggle. Abandonment, abortion, and abuse are the means through which acts of gendercide take place. The loss of baby girls ultimately happens, though, because women are valued less than men in China. There is a deeply broken view of the relationships between men and women. Ultimately, these root problems can only be healed through the love of Jesus. Men and women who know Jesus " and know that they are beloved sons and daughters of God " understand that men and women are created equally in the image of God. This is why All Girls Allowed is coming alongside the church in China to fight gendercide and restore women in the name of Jesus.
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All Girls Allowed in Year 2 Our second year saw an abundance of answered prayers. In China, a forced abortion sparked a widespread outcry against the One-Child Policy that continues to this day. New volunteers are stepping forward to rescue baby girls and defend pregnant mothers. In Boston, our team is developing a strategy to combat gendercide at its root causes by lifting up women in the name of Jesus.
MISSION In Jesus’ Name, Simply Love Her All Girls Allowed seeks to restore the God-given life, value and dignity to women by seeking transformation both of hearts and of societies. We seek to emulate God’s command in Micah 6:8 (act justly, love mercy, walk humbly with God) by: 5 5 5
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In so doing, we pray that God would end the One-Child Policy, uproot gendercide in hearts and in societies, and bring complete restoration to His people. WARNING: This report contains graphic images 8
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All Girls Allowed in Year 2
2011 OCT
NOV
DEC
2012 JAN FEB
December 6, 2011 Chai Ling prays for Chen Guangcheng and Nie Lina to be released at a hearing in DC October 4, 2011 Chai Ling publishes A Heart for Freedom
December 5, 2011 Nie Lina is freed by her captors after urgent prayer
MAR
M AY
February 2012 Chai Ling receives "2012 Defender of Life Award" from Students for Life Association April 28, 2012 Chen Guangcheng escapes from house arrest in China and flees to the US Embassy in Beijing
June 1, 2012 All Girls Allowed celebrates its 2nd anniversary on China's Children's Day
May 19, 2012 Chen Guangcheng and his family arrive safely in New York
May 2012 21 trafficked women reunite with their families through DNA tests funded by All Girls Allowed
JUN
JUL
AUG
July 4, 2012 The European Parliament condemns forced abortion in China
May 15, 2012 Chai Ling testifies about Chen Guancheng and forced abortion on Capitol Hill
November, 2011 All Girls Allowed meets with a Papal delegation in Rome
November 4, 2011 Congressional Hearing on H.R. 2121
APR
August 7, 2012 All Girls Allowed forms a Case Team, which reaches out directly to victims of One-Child Policy abuses in China August 31, 2012 All Girls Allowed submits a joint report on forced abortion to the UN, seeking an investigation of the One-Child Policy
June 5, 2012 Cao Ruyi is threatened with a forced abortion, but a media firestorm scares officials from following through June 12, 2012 Chai Ling calls Feng Jianmei, who underwent a forced abortion on June 2.
June 17, 2012 The World Evangelical Alliance condemns forced abortion
Summer, 2012 China issues an unprecedented document officially outlawing late-term forced abortions
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In October 2011, Chai Ling published A Heart for Freedom. The memoir details her remarkable journey from a fishing village in Shandong to Tiananmen Square, then to America. Ling wrote most of the narrative many years ago, but she did not feel ready to publish it until after she came to know Jesus. Ling’s faith is now woven throughout her story − she can now see how God has used every twist and turn to reveal His love to her.
A Heart “Though no one could forget the Tiananmen movement, even more than twenty years later, few people seem to realize that three little words — one-child policy — have resulted in what amounts to a Tiananmen massacre, for the past thirty years, in broad daylight, right under the world’s nose.” - Chai Ling, A Heart for Freedom”
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Ling addresses students in 1989 as the commander in chief of the Tiananmen Square headquarters
for Freedom Effects of the book
A Heart for Freedom has inspired many readers to reach out to us with messages of redemption. Several women have shared with Ling that her openness about healing from abortion has led them to seek healing, too. Another reader began making cards that we are sending to China along with blankets for the baby girls enrolled in our Baby Shower Gift Program (p. 34). A couple who read Ling’s book reached out to All Girls Allowed late last year; they have now traveled to China twice this year to encourage women and share their own testimony of God’s boundless grace. We praise God for the way He is raising people up to spread hope and fight injustice. “For the first time, I understand why I was kept alive and how God has prepared me for each step of the way for this moment in history, for All Girls Allowed and more. Through my journey with God, he has removed my blindfold, showing me a world that I never knew existed.”
You can get your copy of A Heart for Freedom through www.aheartforfreedom.com
- Chai Ling, “A Heart for Freedom”
Chai Ling at a Book Signing at Harvard, Fall 2011
All Girls Allowed in Year 2
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Injustices that Moved the World to Action This year, the world woke up to the horrors of the One-Child Policy. Why? Because stories of forced abortion jolted people out of apathy. When Chinese officials kidnapped 23-yearold Feng Jianmei and aborted her baby on June 2nd, her sister-in-law photographed the graphic aftermath and posted it online to seek justice. Chinese citizens viewed these stories online and responded in outrage. Feng Jianmei’s name is widely known in China, where millions of people have posted online about her story. It is our hope that this outrage is just the beginning. We pray it will grow into a wave of justice that sweeps over China to end the One-Child Policy once and for all. The day is coming, and we serve a God who upholds justice and frees the oppressed. “But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.” - Amos 5:24
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Injustices that Moved the World to Action
Feng Jianmei, June 2012
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Feng Jianmei On June 2nd, 2012, a group of officials abducted 23-year-old Feng Jianmei from her home in Shaanxi Province while her husband was away at work. She was seven months pregnant with her second daughter. The officials took Ms. Feng to a clinic and demanded 40,000 RMB ($6,270) from her. When she didn’t have the money, they restrained her, forced her thumbprint on a “consent” form, and injected a lethal toxin into the brain of Feng Jianmei her unborn daughter. Ms. Feng was devastated. “I could feel the baby jumping around inside me all the time,” she told Chai Ling, “but then she went still.” After the forced abortion, Ms. Feng began experiencing painful contractions. She was given no anesthetic, and the contractions continued for two days before her body expelled the baby. She said, “It was much more painful than my first childbirth. The baby was lifeless, and she was all purple and blue.” Hospital workers left the deceased infant lying beside Ms. Feng on a plastic bag -- and it was then that her sister-in-law snapped the photo on page 13. 14 14
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Injustices that Moved the World to Action
A still from a TV interview with Feng Jianmei broadcast (NBC)
All Girls Allowed issued a press release on June 12, and by June 14th almost every major international news outlet had picked up her story, sparking a global outcry. Chinese citizens were outraged at the brutal treatment of Ms. Feng and demanded justice for her -- and renewed calls for the end of the One-Child Policy. Feng Jianmei and her husband received a settlement from the Chinese government and are working to rebuild their lives. Nothing can replace the daughter they lost, but they know that Ms. Feng’s bravery in sharing her story was a tipping point in the battle against forced abortion. Injustices that Moved the World to Action
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Cao Ruyi Cao Ruyi already had a six-year old daughter when she and her husband learned that she was pregnant again this year. They couldn’t get a birth permit for the second child, but because they live in a large city in Hunan, they did not imagine that the family planning officials would threaten them. But in June, five months into Ms. Cao’s pregnancy, officials lied to her husband to lure him out of town. More than twelve officials arrived at her home and forced her into a van and to the hospital where she was detained in a small room. She had two guards outside her door and several in a van outside when she was restrained and given an antiinflammatory shot against her wishes. 16 16
Cao Ruyi
When Cao’s husband arrived at the hospital and tried to free his wife he was severely beaten. The couple was told they had 36-48 hours to sign the abortion consent form. Otherwise, officials said, the baby would be forcibly aborted. Ms. Cao’s husband immediately started calling people and putting out the word online, and All Girls Allowed picked up the story and issued a press release and an action alert to volunteers. Within hours, several reporters had published articles -- and just as amazingly, dozens of All Girls Allowed supporters had called the hospital where Ms. Cao was detained! The Hunan family planning committee folded under the pressure. They released Ms. Cao and her husband after receiving a 10,000 RMB (about US $1,500) deposit that would only be returned if the couple agrees to abort the baby. At first Ms. Cao was harassed by officials demanding further sums of money, but after renewed pressure from the media, the committee agreed to give Ms. Cao a birth certificate at a lower fee. Thanks to international pressure, Ms. Cao and her husband are confident that they will be able to give birth to a baby without further interference from the Chinese government.
The couple in April, happily expecting
Injustices that Moved the World to Action
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Zhang Wenfang In late June, a woman named Zhang Wenfang stepped forward to share about her traumatic forced abortion, inspired by the outraged response to Feng Jianmei’s story. She told Chai Ling that she lost both her baby and her livelihood when officials forced her into a hospital in 2008. On May 23rd, 2008, when Ms. Zhang was nine months pregnant, at least eleven Family Planning officials entered her home while her husband was away. Eight or nine men Zhang Wenfang and three women dragged her into a van and took her to the People’s Hospital, where they induced labor despite her protest.
At 8 PM they tried to inject an unknown chemical into her stomach, and Zhang resisted: “I pulled the needle out,” she said. “But then six men held me down so that they could give me the injection with a second needle.” Afterwards, they kept her in a room and did not let her family know where she was.
18 18
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Injustices that Moved the World to Action
On May 25th, Zhang began to suffer contractions and then her water broke. She remembers feeling panic: “I was saying, ‘Help, help!’ but they ignored me and wouldn’t even let me out of the room.” Shortly after, she lost consciousness. When Zhang woke up on May 26th, she was in extreme pain -- and her baby was gone. “When I asked the officials and doctors what happened to the baby, if it was alive or dead, they would not tell me.” But officials did not stop there. They also removed Ms. Zhang’s uterus. The next morning, they forced Zhang’s mother to sign a form accepting that her daughter’s uterus was gone. Subsequent medical examinations revealed that the hospital had also removed her cervix, fallopian tubes, and right ovary. Before the incident, Ms. Zhang was an entrepreneur. She began a successful trucking business and was making 1,000 RMB ($157 USD) per day. But she suffered major complications when doctors removed her uterus and now uses a wheelchair and suffers severe kidney malfunction. She had to close her business because she can no longer move freely, and her marriage also broke down under the strain. “After suffering much harassment and beatings from the Family Planning Committee people, my husband left me,” she said. Ms. Zhang tried to petition the government about the incident, but Mr. Guo, the Deputy Minister of the Family Planning Committee in Hong Hu, was defiant. “I removed the uteruses of one thousand women,” he said, “and no one dared to say a word to me.” In June 2012, Ms. Zhang went again to the local authorities seeking an investigation, but she was severely beaten by police. One officer threatened her life, saying that someone had offered him money to kill her and silence her permanently. Zhang grew distraught as she told her story to Chai Ling, so Ling offered to pray for her. Ms. Zhang embraced Jesus as her savior and prayed to welcome Him into her life that very night! Now she has hope and continues to press for justice: “I would like to ensure that no more families ever have to go through what I have been through, to be butchered like this.” Injustices that Moved the World to Action
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EXPOSE 20
All Girls Allowed's viral video, "37 Seconds," shows that gendercide in China has resulted in more loss of life than all of the genocides of the past 100 years combined
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Statistics
Ä‘ In 2005, there were 32 million more men than women under age 20 in China. U.S. Congressional-
The One-Child Policy and Women in China: Reality Check
Executive Commission on China, Annual Report 2008
Ä‘Ĺ? *Ĺ?ĂĀĀĈČĹ?0$!Ĺ?* 0%+* (Ĺ?#+2!.*)!*0Ĺ? estimated that China has 37 million more males than females. Ibid, p. 100 Ä‘Ĺ? *Ĺ?ĂĀĀĆČĹ?)+.!Ĺ?0$ *Ĺ?1.1 million excess births of boys occurred. British Medical Journal Ä‘Ĺ? +. %*#Ĺ?0+Ĺ?0$!Ĺ? $%*!/!Ĺ? !)5Ĺ?+"Ĺ? Social Sciences, the gender imbalance has been growing wider year after year. The Chinese Academy of Social Sciences
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Ä‘Ĺ? $!Ĺ? $%*!/!Ĺ?#+2!.*)!*0Ĺ? + /0! Ĺ? that the policy has prevented over 400 million births since its inception in 1978. Chinese National Population & Family Planning Commission
Ä‘Ĺ? $!.!Ĺ? .!Ĺ?+2!.Ĺ?ăĀĀČĀĀĀĹ?+Ăž % (/Ĺ?3$+/!Ĺ?&+ Ĺ?%/Ĺ? to enforce the One-Child Policy, and a total of 92 million members who help out with enforcement, according to UC Irvine professor Wang Feng. Wang Feng, 2005. “Can China Afford the One Child Policy?â€?
Ä‘Ĺ? $%*!/!Ĺ? 0 Ĺ? /$+3/Ĺ? 0$ 0Ĺ? Ä ÄƒĹ? )%((%+*Ĺ? +.0%+*/Ĺ? .!Ĺ? performed each year, for an average rate of 35,000 abortions per day. China Daily Ä‘Ĺ? $!Ĺ? *!ÄĄ $%( Ĺ? +(% 5Ĺ?$ /Ĺ?(! Ĺ?0+Ĺ? Ĺ? 1.#!+*%*#Ĺ? black market in stolen children, with at least 70,000 sold each year, according to the documentary China’s Stolen Children. China's Stolen Children, 2008
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EXPOSE
S uicide
đŏ $!ŏ !%&%*#ŏ 1% % !ŏ !/! . $ŏ * ŏ Prevention Center reported in 2009 that the suicide rate for females was three times higher than for males. US State Department, 2010 đŏ 500 women commit suicide in China each day. CECC 2009 đŏ 1% % !ŏ %/ŏ 0$!ŏ #1 cause of death among Chinese rural women aged 15-34. World Health Organization and The
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In China, the three words “It’s a girl!� are often received with sadness and disappointment because parents have a strong cultural preference for boys.
Gendercide
Joined with the strict One-Child Policy, this preference has fatal implications for China’s girls. Currently, one out of every six girls is eliminated through sex-selective abortion, abandonment, or infanticide. That means 1.1 million girls are lost every year. There are now 37 million more men than women in China.
All Girls Allowed seeks to expose the horror of gendercide and highlight the implications of this growing gender gap, both for China and the world. Some key facts: 55R55 ( ), ' (.5) 5." 5 ( 7 "#& 5 )&# 35#-5 #, .&35 ),, & . 5.)5! ( , # 55R55 5-/,*&/-5) 53)/(!5' (5" -5#(5." 5* -.5& 5.)5/(, -.5),5 2* (-#)(#-' 55R55." 5! ( ,5#' & ( 5#-5& #(!5.)5." 5 8 87 "#( 5., 5#' & ( 55R55 5Ĺ€( ( # &5#( (.#0 5 ),5* , (.-5.)5% *5!#,&-51#&&5, / 5! ( , # 5, . (5)/,5Ĺ€,-.53 ,651 5*)/, 5)/,5 Äż),.-5#(.)5 ,#(!#(!5! ( , # 5#(.)5." 5*/ &# 5 3 85 We met with members of Congress and the State Department, spoke at churches and colleges, reached out to the media and published articles. We have expanded this critical work in our second year. Our website, designed to expose gendercide and provide visitors a wide body of research on the One-Child Policy, has seen 312,852 visits over the last year. Thousands of people watched our 0# )-5 .)5 & ,(5 )/.5 ! ( , # 85 ),5 ." 5 Ĺ€,-.5 “More girls have been killed time, we published a video on gendercide in #(5." 5& -.5Ĺ€ .353 ,-65*, #- &35 Chinese. because they were girls, than men were killed in all the wars of the twentieth century.â€?
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Spreading the Word in China All Girls Allowed is sending faithful workers to spread the word about gendercide in China. In June and July of 2012, these new workers helped enroll 60 new pregnant mothers and baby girls into the Baby Shower Gift Program (see p. 34). These brothers and sisters are also '/&.#*&3#(!5 ." #,5 Ŀ),.-5 35 -%#(!5 )." ,-5 .)5 $)#(5 ." 5 ŀ!".5 ! #(-.5 ! ( , # 85 ĝ 35 share a "Choose Life" teaching with Chinese fellowships, encouraging them to cherish life in the womb. This message is new to many Christians in China, where 13 million abortions take place every year " and where sex-selective abortion is the leading method of gendercide.
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Forced Abortion In April 2012, Pan Chunyan was kidnapped while working at her grocery store in Fujian City. She was eight months pregnant, and her abductors were not traffickers or part of some criminal underworld — rather, they were family planning officials employed by the Chinese government. Eight men took Pan to a holding room. Then they conveyed her to a hospital despite the fact that her husband had raised enough to pay the “social compensation” fine for a second child. They injected her unborn baby with toxins, and she delivered a dead son not long after. She was devastated.
“The key point is to separate the pregnant woman from her family members.” -Wang Jinding, family planning supervisor in Daji, Fujian Province (USA Today)
26 26
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EXPOSE
Pan Chunyan’s story is not unique. Across China, family planning officials regularly resort to coercive and even violent methods to ensure that families abide by the One-Child Policy. Women who get pregnant without a birth permit face Pan Chunyan (China Aid) crippling fines, threats of “My wife only got a glance at job loss, and other severe the child, her heart broke, and consequences if they try to keep their babies. she cried loudly, because the Officials also forcibly sterilize women to prevent future whole body was black and the pregnancies, and many of these procedures are conducted by skin on the face had peeled. untrained workers at unsanitary clinics. Women like Zhang This is a life that had no time Wenfang (p. 18) have suffered debilitating complications from to look at this beautiful world these involuntary procedures. with eyes open.” It is remarkable that these things have gone mostly unreported -Wu Lianjie, after his wife Pan Chunyan’s for so long. forced abortion (USA Today)
2012 Global Outcry This year, however, we saw the world wake up to the brutal reality of forced abortion after Feng Jianmei’s story (p. 14) captured international headlines in June. All Girls Allowed received word of Feng’s forced abortion on June 11, and issued a press release after speaking with her during the night. The news broke into the mainstream press on June 14 and was featured in almost every major outlet.
Meanwhile, the word spread in China and citizens took to Weibo (Chinese Twitter) to express their outrage at Feng Jianmei’s story. Chinese scholars called for a “rethink” of the One-Child Policy, and the European Parliament condemned forced abortion in a vote in July. The Chinese government took note: at a meeting in July, Family Planning Minister Wang Xia asked enforcers to “absolutely stop doing late-term abortions.” Family Planning offices all over the country then received a document ordering them to cease using lateterm abortions to enforce the One-Child Policy. It remains to be seen how this ban will be enforced, but it’s a sign that the government knows Feng Jianmei’s story horrified the public.
news-sources that published articles about Forced Abortion, Summer 2012
Chai Ling on Al Jazeera
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China Reacts After the exposure of Feng Jianmei’s forced abortion (p. 14), the word spread in China and citizens took to Weibo (Chinese Twitter) to express their outrage at the story. Chinese scholars called for a “rethink” of the One-Child Policy, and the European Parliament condemned forced abortion in a vote in July. The Chinese government took note: at a meeting in July, Family Planning Minister Wang Xia asked enforcers to “absolutely stop doing late-term abortions.” Family Planning offices all over the country then received a document ordering them to cease using late-term abortions to enforce the One-Child Policy. So far, 23 of China’s 31 provinces have adopted the new language banning late-term abortion into their family planning laws. It’s a step in the right direction, and we will watch vigilantly to make sure they abide by the ban.
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EXPOSE
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in china, up to
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Infant Abandonment Every year, up to a million children are abandoned in China, and according to UNICEF, there are now 17 million orphans under the age of 17.
the majority being
The vast majority of abandoned babies are healthy girls. Those who are rescued before they succumb to exposure grow up in orphanages that are often shockingly under-resourced. According to foreign aid workers, over 90% of the children in Chinese orphanages are female.
GIRLS
The Chinese government has taken some steps to improve conditions for orphans, yet it clings to the single greatest factor contributing to child abandonment: the One-Child Policy. The repeal of the policy would relieve parents of the pressure they feel to ensure that their only child is a son -- even at the cost of abandoning a newborn daughter.
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EXPOSE
Girl from Anshan City On July 23, 2012, a man in Anshan City was searching through a trash bin when he came across a baby discarded in a plastic bag. She was a newborn girl, abandoned by her family and suffering from a 2-inch knife cut across her throat.
Horrified bystanders called police, who took the baby to a hospital where doctors performed emergency surgery. One person who witnessed the girl being taken to the hospital later told a reporter: â&#x20AC;&#x153;She was still breathing and had a heartbeat. Blood from the wound stained the whole body.â&#x20AC;?
Mercifully and miraculously, the little girl survived. Doctors said that she would have died if the knife wound had been only slightly deeper. Chinese citizens were appalled at the story, and rightfully so. But the tragedy remains. While this girl survived, hundreds of others do not -- and this reminds us why we must keep working tirelessly to restore life and value to baby girls like her. EXPOSE
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New enrollees in the Baby Shower Gift program
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Baby Shower Gifts Saving Girls from Prenatal Sex Selection, Abandonment, Infanticide, and Trafficking The Baby Shower Gift program was born out of a desire to empower mothers who keep their daughters despite heavy cultural pressure to have a son. The financial assistance helps a mother provide well for her baby girl, which strengthens the dignity of both mother and daughter in the eyes of the community. Mothers who enroll are provided with $20/month for the first year of her daughter's life to provide life-giving help and to prove to her neighbors and in-laws that her daughter has intrinsic value as a girl. Donors who give to the program can rest assured that 100% of their support will go directly to mothers and daughters who truly need it. Parents may only use the stipend to buy food, medication and clothing. While $20/month may not seem like much for us, it goes a long way in helping poor families in China, where many live on less than $2 per day. This model, which is called a "conditional cash transfer," has been successful in promoting healthy behavior in other countries. Dr. Abraham Evenstein, Professor of Economics at Hebrew University, independently confirmed that there is a perceived financial cost to having a daughter in China and recommended a financial incentive as a means to encourage families to keep daughters. This is exactly what the Baby Shower Gift Program does!
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"We weren't allowed to have a second child, but this life is from God. We can't take such lives away." - Mr. Cheng, father of Baby Airen
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Baby Airen
Uprooting Gendercide This summer, we have seen the fruits of the Baby Shower Gift program multiply as new workers line up to enroll pregnant mothers. In June and July, several brand new volunteers enrolled 54 pregnant mothers and baby girls into the program. All of these new workers are committed to serving rural mothers and baby girls in the name of Jesus, sharing a message of hope that combats gendercide at the heart level as well as the symptom level. If hearts do not change, the same factors that foster gendercide today — a lower view of women and a lack of Jesus’ compassion for individual human lives — could continue to effect these girls well into adulthood. We pray that they will instead thrive, knowing that they are beloved daughters of God with a value beyond price.
A happy new enrollee in the Baby Shower Program in Guizhou
“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” 17&4&%/-8$9:;<<
RESCUE
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Defending Mothers At All Girls Allowed, we work to end forced abortion. We have seen the devastation that forced abortion brings to a family. It is a violation of one of the oldest and deepest human bonds there is: the bond between mother and child. We believe a day is soon coming when no mother in China fears losing her child for a lack of a governmentissued birth permit. It can be extremely difficult to prevent forced abortions while the One-Child Policy remains. For one thing, they take place in secret -- officials often drag a pregnant woman away alone and prevent her family from seeing her until after they have aborted her child. In Feng Jianmei’s case (p. 14), direct intervention would have been next to impossible since Feng’s own family was prevented from seeing her. But there are some instances where pressure has time to work. When Cao Ruyi (p. 16) was threatened with a forced abortion, her husband got the story out before the family planning officials followed through on their threat. After All Girls Allowed and other organizations pushed her story into the international media, Ms. Cao was released and her baby was spared. With that example in mind, we have formed a new team that will form the basis for much of our future expose and rescue operations: a “Case Team” of Chinese-speaking women who call at-risk pregnant women and seek out reports of threats online. We are also laying the groundwork for a Rescue Railway of safe houses and clinics that can shelter pregnant women who face persecution from family planning officials.
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The Case Team Who is the Case Team?
A group of women who track Chinese websites, news, and even Weibo (Chinese Twitter) daily to find new cases of One-Child Policy abuses.
What are the goals of the Case Team?
They call victims or at-risk women and interview them in order to learn details that help us serve the women better. We hope to push their stories out to the media (if the women want to share publicly) and connect the women to avenues where they can find help.
The Case Team
What has the Case Team done so far?
Since the Case Team began in July 2012, they have reached out to dozens of Chinese women who reported suffering abuse because of the One-Child Policy. We included a number of these cases in a filing to the United Nations in August, and have been able to report these stories in the media as well. Most importantly, All Girls Allowed has been able to connect these women â&#x20AC;&#x201D; many of whom have severe physical ailments due to forced sterilizations or abortions
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Reuniting Trafficked Children Over 200,000 Children in China are trafficked every year. Parents of boys, concerned about the growing gender gap, try to ensure their son has a wife by buying a young girl from traffickers. These "child brides" are raised alongside sons and forced to marry them when they come of age. Other stolen girls end up enslaved in China's booming sex industry. Meanwhile, traffickers can sell young boys for even higher prices to couples who want a male heir. In the past, All Girls Allowed launched massive flyer campaigns with the goal of reuniting children with their families. In 2011, the flyers led to the rescue of three-year-old Little Bean six months after her kidnapping. Now, as parents increasingly take up the fight against trafficking, All Girls Allowed is focusing on training volunteers to bring healing to families of missing children and women who escape the sex industry. An escape from traffickers is only the first step in a woman or child's recovery; we know that they will find restored hope and full freedom in Jesus.
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DNA Testing On May 18, 2012, hundreds of people gathered in Fujian province. They were parents who had lost daughters, and daughters who lost their freedom to traffickers as children − when they were taken and sold as “child brides” to families with sons. This is a common problem in a region where gendercide has made women scarce. They met to undergo DNA testing provided through All Girls Allowed’s anti-trafficking efforts. As the testing concluded, workers discovered that 15 trafficked women had family with matching DNA present! These families were reunited for the first time since each daughter’s childhood.
Child Bride Conference & DNA Testing, 2012 - All women pictured were sold as children
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41 Each onesie on the line represents a donation made by students at the Students for Life Conference
Prayer Movement When we celebrate this year’s breakthroughs and growth in the movement, we know the source. Only by the power of God will gendercide end in China — and God is faithful and hears our prayers. Hundreds of believers around the world have joined our prayer team in the past year. The fruit is evident, particularly where it matters most. The movement in China is rising and taking a life of its own: several fellowships have begun to start their own versions of the Baby Shower Gift Program with the goal of fighting gendercide. A major outpouring of prayer and repentance in China immediately preceded the June 14 media firestorm around Feng Jianmei’s forced abortion. And God answered prayer in a dramatic way with the escape of Chen Guangcheng, the blind human rights lawyer who was held under illegal house arrest for years in China after trying to fight against forced abortion. Finally, the Chinese government’s ban on late-term abortions in July signaled that even those most committed to coercive family planning are aware that the public will no longer continue to tolerate the open abuse of pregnant women. This is a step, and a reason to thank the Lord. We are asking our prayer team to lift up the battle against the OneChild Policy now more than ever before. The progress in the past year has galvanized supporters around the world, but there remains a long road ahead before girls are welcomed equally in China and women no longer fear getting pregnant without government permission. 4242
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Chen Guangcheng and his family
“The Righteous cry out, and the LORD hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles.” - Psalm 34:17
Couples Pray in China
Call 2 All Prayer Conference
Will you join us in prayer? Email info@allgirlsallowed.org
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Meeting with European Officials and the Vatican
In November of 2011, Chai Ling traveled to Rome along with several members of the All Girls Allowed team.
They took part in a conference on furthering democracy and human rights at the invitation of Gianni Vernetti, a member of both the Italian and European Parliaments who has represented Italy in the UN Human Rights Council. Chai Ling spoke at the conference and issued an open letter to the European Parliament calling for action against Chinaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s One-Child Policy. All Girls Allowed met with officials from the Vatican to share about gendercide; these officials delivered a letter from Chai Ling to Pope Benedict.
The All Girls Allowed Team
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European parliament member Silvia Costa
Sevenly Campaign From August 27 to September 3, 2012, the social media-powered clothing company Sevenly featured All Girls Allowed for their weekly charitable giving drive. They featured limited-edition shirt designs and gave $7 for every purchase to our Baby Shower Gift Program. Sevenly sent us a check for $24,605 at the conclusion of the campaign. This made it our single most successful fundraising drive ever. Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s enough to sponsor over 100 baby girls in their first year of life!
Sevenly
The All Girls Allowed team with the check from Sevenly
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Volunteer Spotlight Baby Blanket Ministry Joan, the adoptive mother of two girls from China, was at first unsure how she could play a further role in the movement to end gendercide. “Recently I was at a meeting with All Girls Allowed,” said Joan. “I wanted to do something but I didn’t know what I could do.” Then an idea came to her. When she had traveled to a Chinese orphanage during the adoption process, she had given the workers several baby blankets for the children in their care. They were deeply touched by the gesture. She contacted All Girls Allowed to see if she could send handmade blankets to the baby girl she was sponsoring through the Baby Shower Gift Program. That vision grew, and now Joan runs the Baby Blanket Ministry! “The hope is that with every baby shower gift that goes over to China, a blanket will go with them,” she said. “These families will not only know that they are loved and valued with the support they’re getting financially, but will also have something tangible.”
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Volunteers have made over 300 blankets to send to girls in China
Bake Sale in Texas In August, 2012, a mother from Schulenberg, TX emailed us with a request for materials. Brandy Ischy’s young daughter had heard a radio interview with Chai Ling and wanted to take action. She already had an idea: she and her friends would hold a bake sale fundraiser for All Girls Allowed to support baby girls in China. Brandy helped her collect ingredients, make posters, and even recruit friends to help out. They even placed a notice in the local newspaper. At the conclusion of the bake sale on August 18, the Ischy family had raised $290 — more than enough to support a baby girl in China.
Brandy and her family
A Better Birthday Gift: Two Babies Saved Best friends Gabby and Amiee decided to go a non-traditional route with their joint 10th birthday party. Instead of receiving gifts, the pair hosted a Chinese tea party and asked their friends to give a donation to All Girls Allowed’s Baby Shower Gift Program. Gabby was thrilled with the outcome, “We saved two girls in China,” she said. 47 Gabby (bottom, 2nd from left) and Aimee (bottom, 2nd from right)
The Red Sea
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All Girls Allowed received some stunning photo and art entries to our Red Sea campaign. To see all of the submissions, head to www.agatheredsea.tumblr.com
In 2012, All Girls Allowed hosted an online initiative called The Red Sea. The Red Sea called for artists, writers, musicians, and activists to submit works that highlight the injustice of gendercide and lift up women and girls in China. We received over 30 submissions and the team at All Girls Allowed nominated 19 of these for entry into a grant competition. Winners of this competitions received grants of up to $1,000 to create a project that motivates others to join the movement against gendercide. The big winner with over 1,000 likes on Facebook was a short film called The Disappeared by The Art for Change Foundation and Let Her Live campaign. Their NGO and Art Gallery seeks to end gendercide in India through art and education, and thus impact gendercide everywhere! See the works: www.agatheredsea.tumblr.com
Some of the art pieces featured in â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Disappearedâ&#x20AC;?
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Will you help save a baby girlâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s life? 50
Donations Join us to rescue a baby girl by giving a Baby Shower Gift for a mother and her daughter. A Baby Shower Gift costs $240 per family annually for the first year of life of their daughter. That is $20 per month or only 66 cents per day. 100% of your gift brings life, value and dignity to girls and mothers in China. All other overhead costs such as salaries, computers, travel, supplies, and fundraising are generously underwritten by the Jenzabar Foundation. Your gift will be used where it will make the most impact in the lives of girls and mothers in China. To give online, go to http://www.allgirlsallowed.org/donate. You can give a one-time donation or set up a monthly giving commitment to keep supporting the rescue of baby girls. To give by check or money order, make payable to “All Girls Allowed” and mail it to: All Girls Allowed 101 Huntington Ave, Suite 2205 Boston, MA 02199 All Girls Allowed is a registered 501(c)3 and all U.S. donations are tax-deductible. All Girls Allowed’s tax identification number is 27-2966708. International checks are not accepted at this time, however, international banks can issue money orders in USD. Money orders should be made payable to “All Girls Allowed.” Please get in touch with us if you have any questions about your donation: info@allgirlsallowed.org 51
101 Huntington Avenue, Suite 2205 | Boston, MA 02199 | info@allgirlsallowed.org 52