China's One-Child Policy Bankrupting Families
- Religion Today
- Published Jun 26, 2012
![China's One-Child Policy Bankrupting Families](https://i.swncdn.com/media/700w/crosswalk/resource/areas/crosswalk/resources/images/defaultimages/article-large-landscape.png)
Chinese authorities released a woman facing a forced abortion in China's northern Hunan province on June 10 after human rights activists and at least one U.S. official called for her freedom, WORLD News Service reports. Cao Ruyi -- a mother in her fifth month of pregnancy -- still faces outrageous fines for allegedly violating China's one-child policy, and said that she and her husband can't afford to pay a "social burden compensation fee" that exceeds $25,000. She fears that authorities may return and attempt a forced abortion again. Advocacy groups say the exorbitant fine highlights China's ruthless tactics to maintain population control by pressuring women to abort their unborn children or bankrupt their families. ChinaAid has set up a fund for donors interested in helping the couple pay the fine and legal fees, and the group is also urging residents in three U.S. cities that have sister-relationships with Cao's home city of Changsha -- St. Paul, Minn.; Jersey City, N.J.; and Annapolis, Md. -- to call their mayors and ask them to pay attention to her case.