Sarah Huang asks Obama for help

WASHINGTON—A pregnant Chinese pro-life activist on Thursday called on President Barack Obama to denounce China’s population-control policies, which continue to produce forced abortions and sterilizations.

“The U.S. government should be pushing more aggressively for a change in the policy,” said Sarah Huang, who spoke with WORLD from an undisclosed location following her remote testimony at a congressional hearing. “I believe President Obama should speak out for those who are persecuted.”

In October, the Communist Party’s central committee recommended China change its 35-year-old one-child policy to a two-child policy. The change still hasn’t taken effect and does not help women such as Huang (not her real name), who was four months pregnant with her second child at the time of the announcement.

Last week, Huang, who has helped some 100 women dealing with the one-child policy, fled to the U.S., where she plans to stay until her baby is born.

Huang said she felt “greatly honored” to testify at Thursday’s hearing focused on China’s family planning policies. The committee provided a chair and name plate for her, but she testified via conference line for security reasons.

Many hailed China’s October announcement as a breakthrough, but both Republicans and Democrats on the Congressional-Executive Commission on China agreed the country’s probable new policy remains unacceptable. So far the Obama administration has yet to denounce it.

“The U.S. should encourage the Chinese government to totally abolish the family planning policy,” Huang told WORLD. “Don’t just abolish the one-child policy or the two-child policy, but totally eliminate family planning.”

Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., panel chairman, noted a range of ongoing problems, including the Chinese government’s admission that some 600 women of child-bearing age commit suicide every day. He said the “entire apparatus of coercion stays in place,” including exorbitant fees and possible loss of employment or property for those who do have a second child.

But many don’t get that chance, including unwed mothers.

“If you’re unwed, your child is going to be murdered by the state,” Smith said. “That hasn’t changed.”

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., the commission’s co-chair, did not attend the hearing but submitted a statement calling the new policy as “indefensible and inhumane” as the old one: “China’s new policy should be known as the ‘forced abortion of child #3’ policy.”

One of the policy solutions discussed at the hearing has been a U.S. law since 2000: A provision of the Foreign Relations Authorization Act requires the secretary of state not to issue visas to any foreign national directly involved in forced abortion or sterilization. But neither the Bush nor Obama administrations have implemented the statute.

On Thursday, Smith sent a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry again inquiring about how many individuals the agency has denied visas under the law. He said the State Department has failed to fulfill previous requests for information.

Steven Mosher, president of the Population Research Institute, told the panel enforcing the 15-year-old law could produce dramatic results, since Chinese officials highly value access to the United States.

“These people ought not to be allowed to come to the United States because they’re criminals,” Mosher said. “That will put the whole enterprise, the whole institution of population control in China, on notice that there will be consequences for hauling off 23-year-old mothers who are six months pregnant and forcing them to have an abortion.”

Jennifer Li, co-founder of China Life Alliance, also testified and said she left the proceeding “deeply encouraged.” She said it often feels like no one is paying attention to what’s happening in China, but “it was so exciting to see so many people who are actually paying attention and talking about the issues and are educated on the topic.”