Nursing.qxd

Violence against Pregnant and Nursing Mothers

My Experience of Seventh-M

Month Forced Abortion

Both my husband and I are Falun Gong practitioners.

Because we went to Beijing to appeal to the government to

stop persecuting Falun Gong, the Beijing police arrested us

and sent us to the Beijing Police Station. After we were escort-

ed back to our hometown my husband was immediately sent to

a detention center. The detention center dared not keep me

there because I was seven months pregnant. Detaining a preg-

nant woman is against the law. They threatened to force me to

have an abortion, so they could send me to a detention center,

if I refused to give up Falun Gong.

I refused to renounce Falun Gong. I thought, "This is such

a great practice. Why should I quit doing it?" I was taken to a

hospital against my will. In the hospital, several people forcibly

held me down and performed an abortion procedure on me

without even informing my family. When my family got to the

hospital, it was too late, and the forced abortion had taken

effect. After receiving the injection to abort my seven month

pregnancy, my unborn baby struggled in my womb for over forty

hours before giving up its life.

While giving birth to a dead baby, I suffered tremendous

pain and lingered in and out of consciousness. My mother

cried while holding me tightly. I don't remember how many

times I passed out. It was always my mother who pulled me

back into consciousness by crying out loudly to me. I don't

know how much time passed before my dead child emerged

from my womb. Looking at my dead son, my heart was broken.

My parents cried loudly. We loved the dead baby too much to

allow the hospital to throw his body away.

During the several days I was forced to stay in the hospital,

I missed my dead child. At the same time, I missed my hus-

band, who was detained in the detention center, and he had no

chance to see his baby son.

Seven days later, policemen wanted to send me to a deten-

tion center. They claimed, "according to orders from higher up,

no matter what is done to Falun Gong practitioners it is not off

limits." Because of my parents' determined intervention, the

police didn't get their way. Instead, they sent me home under

24-hour surveillance. I was not allowed to leave home and

completely lost my personal freedom. One month later, my par-

ents were fined 2,000 Yuan. My husband wasn't released until

after two months of detention.

Forced Abortion at Full Term

Zhang Hanyun, female, 33, resident of Hanzhong City, Shanxi

Province.

In March of 2000, because Ms. Zhang Hanyun practices

Falun Gong, she was forced to attend the anti-Falun Gong

brainwashing class held by the Hanzhong City "610 Office",

even though she was pregnant and expecting her new baby

soon. To avoid the persecution, Ms. Zhang hid with a relative's

family. Her father owned a contraction company. Under instruc-

tions from the Hanzhong City "610 Office" staff members, the

Beiguan Administrative Office closed down the construction

sites of Ms. Zhang's father and brother in an attempt to force

them to hand over Ms. Zhang. They also handcuffed Ms.

Zhang's husband to the Jialing River Bridge to humiliate him.

In the end, Ms. Zhang was arrested and sent to the anti-

Falun Gong brainwashing class. When the staff of the

Hanzhong City "610 Office" realized Ms. Zhang would soon be

giving birth to a baby, in order to detain her at the anti-Falun

Gong brainwashing class, they took her to a hospital. Ms.

Zhang was subjected to forced late-term abortion by dilation

and extraction. The horrifying process is hard to imagine.

Forced Abortion After Fourth Month of Pregnancy

Jiao Fangyu, female, employee of Laiwu Shandong Steel

Factory, resident of Laiwu City, Shandong Province.

Because Ms. Jiao Fangyu distributed Falun Gong flyers,

she was arrested by the Panzhuang Police Station on April 8,

2001. She was detained at the Criminal Investigation Brigade

of the Laiwu Shandong Steel Factory. In June 2001, Ms. Jiao

was four months pregnant. In order to keep her in custody they

forced her to have an abortion. On October 8, 2001, the Laiwu

Shandong Steel Factory sentenced Ms. Jiao to forced labor and

sent her to the Wangcun Detention Center.

Forced Abortion to Keep in Detention

Lu Yunzheng, female, 31, resident of Fengcheng City, Jiangxi

Province.

In January 2000, Ms. Lu Yunzheng was detained for

appealing to the government in Beijing to stop the persecution

of Falun Gong. She was later escorted back to Fengcheng City.

Because she was pregnant, the Chief of the Fengcheng Police

Station forced her to have an abortion in order to keep her in

the detention center for a longer term.

Violence against Pregnant and Nursing Mothers

A Pregnant Mother Jailed for Eighty-One Days

Liang Suxian, female, resident of Leiyang City, Hunan Province.

In late December 2000, Ms. Liang Suxian was lured to the

Leiyang City Police Station for questioning, but was arrested

upon arrival. During her detention, Ms. Liang was found to be

two months pregnant. The police nevertheless jailed her for 81

days because she had gone to Beijing in April 2000 to appeal

to the government to stop persecuting Falun Gong. Before

releasing her, they also forced her to sign a document declar-

ing that she would give up the practice of Falun Gong

Detained While Pregnant and Forced into

Homelessness

Yang Zhifang, female, 28, a teacher at the Anatomy and

Physiology Department of the Weifang City Husbandry and

Veterinarian School, Weifang City, Shandong Province.

In October 1999, Ms. Yang Zhifang went to Beijing to

appeal to the government to stop persecuting Falun Gong. She

was arrested and escorted back to the Weifang City Husbandry

and Veterinarian School, and detained for nearly 60 days,

although she was three months pregnant. The School fired her

but assigned employees to take turns watching her. Because

she refused to write a statement renouncing Falun Gong, on

September 5, 2001, the school authorities attempted to send

Ms. Yang to be brainwashed. To avoid further persecution and

possible forced abortion, Ms. Yang escaped and did not return

to her home. Her husband, Mr. Hua Yuliang, also a Falun Gong

practitioner, was sentenced to three years of forced labor at

the Changle Detention Center. Currently, Ms. Yang is living on

the streets.

Detained while Pregnant

Li Yanchun, female, 29, resident of Tiefa City, Liaoning

Province.

In September 2001, the police from the Tianshan Street

Police Station arrested Ms. Li Yanchun because she was dis-

tributing Falun Gong flyers in Inner Mongolia. She was

detained at the Tianshan Street Detention Center in

Arlukeerquinqi. Ms. Li refused to reveal the source of the flyers,

and went on a hunger strike to protest her illegal detention. Ms.

Li was pregnant but the police denied this fact even though

they had taken her to the hospital twice for pregnancy tests.

They refused to let her see the examination results. They told

her husband, however, when he came to visit in January 2002,

that she was four months pregnant, but they still would not

release her. They also tried to feed Ms. Li some unknown med-

icine, but she refused.

Torture and Hard Labor During Pregnancy

Li Dan, female, resident of Linhe City, Inner Mongolia.

On February 19, 2000, Ms. Li Dan was arrested because

she went to Beijing to appeal to the government to stop perse-

cuting Falun Gong. She was then sent back to Linhe City and

detained at Linhe City Police Station. While in the Linhe City

Police Station, three policemen took turns beating her for an

entire night. Policeman Yang slapped her face over a dozen

times. On February 20, 2000, Ms. Li was shackled and sent to

the Huhehaote City Women's Labor Camp. She was detained in

this camp until July 30, 2000.

During her detention, she was forced to do heavy labor. On

July 10, an examination revealed that she had been pregnant

for a few months. She was still forced to unload 30 tons of coal

per day with eight other Falun Gong practitioners. Also, she

was forced to load and unload bull dung and till the soil. When

there was no heavy work, she was forced to wrap more than

10,000 pairs of chopsticks each day. Every morning, Ms. Li

was handcuffed to the stair rail and forced to squat for a long

time. One day, Captain Liu of the No. 3 Team of the labor camp

shocked her with an electric baton. Later, Deputy Captain

Chang Hong ordered guards to hang her by handcuffs without

letting her feet touch the ground. Her arms became black, cold,

and numb after two hours of hanging, and she was hung this

way for the entire day.

On July 30, 2000, she was released to go home with her

hands still cuffed. The Linhe City Police Station ordered the

clinic to force Ms. Li to abort her baby during her eighth month

of pregnancy, but the forced abortion did not succeed. Shortly

after she gave birth, the police ordered her to write a statement

to renounce Faun Gong, or she would be fined 30,000 Yuan or

taken from her house. Even three months after her release she

was still harassed and five or six policemen kept her under sur-

veillance 24 hours a day. To avoid another illegal arrest, Ms. Li

left home and became homeless.

Detained More Than 40 Days during Pregnancy

Liu Yaqing, female, 26, university student, resident of Quyang

County, Hebei Province.

In October 2000, the local authorities ordered the Quyang

Police Station to arrest all of the Falun Gong practitioners in

Quyang County. On October 7, Ms. Liu Yaqing was arrested and

detained at the Quyang County Detention Center. She was

pregnant at the time, but the Quyang Police Station refused to

release her, and fined her family 10,000 Yuan. She was

detained for more than 40 days.

Violence against Pregnant and Nursing Mothers

Six Months Pregnant Mother Vomited Blood

after Detention

Cui, female, resident of Huichun City, Jilin Province.

At around 5 a.m. on September 7, 2001, four policemen

from the Huichun Police Station broke into Ms. Cui's home and

searched it. They arrested Ms. Cui and her husband because

they are both Falun Gong practitioners. At the time, Ms. Cui

was already six months pregnant. Ms. Cui and her husband

were sent to the Huichun Police Station, where they were inter-

rogated for several hours. Ms. Cui went on a hunger strike to

protest the detention. During the hunger strike, Ms. Cui and

her unborn baby suffered significant physical trauma. She was

released after five days of detention. After she was released,

she began to vomit blood. Ms. Cui's husband escaped on the

way to the detention center, and his whereabouts are

unknown.

Detained Although Six Months Pregnant

Na Yafang, female, resident of Lequn Town, Shuangcheng City,

Heilongjiang Province.

Since Ms. Na Yafang went to Beijing to appeal to the gov-

ernment to stop persecuting Falun Gong, she was detained in

the Shuangcheng City Detention Center for more than half a

month and fined 3,000 Yuan. After her release, she was forced

to sell her land. In January 2001, because she refused to

renounce Falun Gong, she was detained again in the office of

Lequn Village although she was six months pregnant.

Pregnant Mother Tortured

Zhou Jing, female, resident of Beijing.

Since Ms. Zhou Jing was a Falun Gong practitioner, sever-

al plainclothes policemen from the Beijing Police Station broke

into her home and tried to arrest her. Ms. Zhou refused to go

with them. Despite her pregnancy, a strong policeman hand-

cuffed her arms behind her back, pushed her down on the

ground, and dragged her out of the room. The police tore her

clothing, leaving her body uncovered. Her eyes, knees, and legs

were injured while she was dragged on the cement floor.

Forced to Become Homeless during Pregnancy

Yu Ping's wife, female, resident of Beijing.

On October 18, 2000, the Beijing police arrested Mr. Yu

Ping and his wife because they are Falun Gong practitioners.

Their house was searched and property confiscated. Yu Ping's

wife escaped and became homeless to avoid illegal arrest. She

was several months pregnant at the time. She is still on the

wanted list after her escape. Yu Ping was detained at the

Chaoyang District Shanjianfang Detention Center. He went on

a hunger strike to protest the detention.

Threatened with Forced Abortion

Ou Yang, female, resident of Guilin City, Guangxi Province.

On July 13, 2000, police from the Qixing Police Station

arrested Ms. Ou Yang, although she was pregnant, because

she was practicing the Falun Gong exercises. They sent her to

the Guilin Second Detention Center. She went on a hunger

strike to protest the detention. Because of her hunger strike,

she was fined 10,000 Yuan. Furthermore, the police threat-

ened her with forced abortion if she refused to renounce Falun

Gong.

Three Months Pregnant Mother Beaten

Sun Guijie, female, 33, resident of Changfeng Village,

Duimiancheng Town, Shuangcheng City, Heilongjiang Province.

In March 2000, because of her practice of Falun Gong, the

local government officials and police woke Ms. Sun Guijie from

her sleep at home and arrested her. They detained her in a

warehouse for one month. In April 2000, because she went to

Beijing to appeal to the government to stop persecuting Falun

Gong, she was arrested again and detained at the

Shuangcheng City Detention Center for 20 days. Liu

Chengjiang, the Secretary of the Party Committee of

Changfeng Village, required Sun's husband, Mr. Xiao Yalin, to

pay a fine of 2,600 Yuan to secure her release. Her husband

had to sell their land because he didn't have the money.

On the sixth day after her release, she went to Beijing

again to appeal to the government to stop persecuting Falun

Gong, and was detained at the Baigumiao Detention Center in

Beijing. A policewoman beat her with an electric baton. She

was unable to sit down because of the torture. After she was

escorted back to Shuangcheng City, she was detained at the

Shuangcheng City Detention Center for two months. After pay-

ing a fine of 4,000 Yuan, she was released. After January 17,

2001, she was detained for more than one month in the

Changfeng Village office because she refused to renounce

Falun Gong. At that time, she was more than three months

pregnant. During her detention, Liu Xingwang beat her.

Violence against Pregnant and Nursing Mothers

A Nursing Mother Jailed and Assaulted

Liang Peiying, female, resident of Shiyan City, Hubei Province.

One afternoon in the middle of October 2000, when Ms.

Liang Peiying was breast-feeding her seven-month-old daugh-

ter at home, two policemen from the Sanyan Police Station,

Shiyan City arrested her. Even though it is illegal to detain a

woman who has a child less than one year old, they took her to

the police station and beat her severely. When her husband

went to see Ms. Liang, the policemen handcuffed him and

hung him from the window frame by his handcuffs, although he

is not a Falun Gong practitioner. They brutally beat him as well.

They then cuffed Ms. Liang's hands behind her back and

made her sit on the floor all night. Her seven-month-old son

was deprived of her breast milk and cried so hard that he

became hoarse and nearly lost his voice. Later Ms. Liang was

released.

On December 14, 2000, Gao Donghui, the Sanyan Police

Station chief, and policeman Cai Xiaojun broke into Ms. Liang's

home and arrested her again. In the police station, they hand-

cuffed her behind her back, with one arm over her shoulder

and the other behind her waist. The torture is called the

"Carrying the Sword on the Back." With her hands still in this

distorted position, they pushed Ms. Liang onto the ground, fac-

ing up. Policeman Cui Ke, while wearing leather boots,

stomped on her body from her head to her toes. Ms. Liang

instantly lost control of her bladder and bowels from this

assault. They then hung her up on the window frame by the

handcuffs.

On December 15, Ms. Liang was sent to Shiyan No. 1

Detention Center. Ten days later, when policeman Cai went to

interrogate her, he closed the door of the interrogation room

and brutally beat her again. To cover up the arrest of a woman

with a child under one year old, the Sanyan Police Station

authorities changed the document date, stating when they

sent Ms. Liang to the detention center, from December 15,

2000, to February 17, 2001, which was one day after her

daughter's first birthday. To support this fabrication, Ms. Liang

was transferred from the detention center to an out-processing

station on January 15, 2001 and transferred back again on

February 17, 2001.

Detained during Pregnancy and Homeless

while Nursing

Yu Libo, female, 29, resident of Zhaodong City, Heilongjiang

Province.

Since Ms. Yu Libo went to Beijing to appeal to the govern-

ment to stop persecuting Falun Gong, she was jailed at the

Zhaodong City Detention Center in January 2000. She was five

months pregnant at the time. She was released after two

months, but only after her family paid a fine of 1,000 Yuan.

After her release, she was harassed and kept under surveil-

lance by the local police station and the local government. She

was warned that she could be arrested again at any time. In

May 2000, she was warned that she would be arrested after

her nursing period. To avoid illegal arrest, she fled home and

wandered the streets.

A Nursing Mother was Punitively Force-FFed

Peng Li, female, 25, a teacher at Dayi Shaqu Town Central

Primary School, Chengdu City, Sichuan Province, resident of

Longxing Village, Dayi Caichang, Chengdu City, Sichuan

Province.

On January 1, 2001, Ms. Peng Li was arrested and taken

to a detention center, although her daughter was only seven

months old and was still being breastfed. Since then, Ms. Peng

has been detained and tortured in the Shuangliu Detention

Center, Chengdu City, Sichuan Province. She was handcuffed

and shackled for five days, which made her unable to eat,

wash her face, or even sleep at night. Ms. Peng went on a

hunger strike to protest her inhumane treatment. In order to

force-feed her, ten policemen pressed her limbs to the ground

and tried to insert a large wooden stick into her mouth. As a

result, her mouth began to bleed profusely. The next day, police

took Ms. Peng to a local hospital to have a large tube inserted

into her stomach to force-feed her. She was in extreme pain

and she was unable to talk or move.

Violence against Pregnant and Nursing Mothers

Li Yanjie and Her Baby Forced to Became Homeless

Li Yanjie, female, 25, resident of Dahe Town, Yilan County,

Heilongjiang Province.

In February 2000, because Ms. Li is a Falun Gong practi-

tioner, the police from the Yilan County Police Station went to

her home, searched it, and threatened to push her down the

stairs from the third floor. They took Ms. Li to the Dahe Town

Police Station and tried to send her to a detention center.

Because Ms. Li was pregnant, they had to release her. After

one week, eight policemen from the Dahe Town Police Station

went to Ms. Li's home, handcuffed her, and threatened to force

her to have an abortion so that they could then send her to the

detention center. They detained Ms. Li for more than sixteen

hours. After her release, eight policemen kept her under sur-

veillance 24 hours a day for more than a month. In early August

2000, when her baby was only nineteen days old, more than

twenty policemen from the Dahe Town Police Station searched

her home and took her husband away. During the altercation,

the police twice used an electric shock baton on her mother-in-

law. On December 26, 2000, Ms. Li took her baby with her to

Beijing to appeal to the government to stop the persecution of

Falun Gong. She was arrested in Tiananmen Square. She and

her baby were detained in the Fengtai Police Station in Beijing

for three days. After her release, Ms. Li and her baby were

forced to wander the streets to avoid further illegal arrests.

After six months, she took her baby back to her hometown to

visit her family. The police threatened her with another deten-

tion. Ms. Li was forced to take her baby with her to wander the

streets, becoming homeless once again.

Nursing Mother Detained for Over One Month

Zhao Hongbo, female, 26, an employee of the 208 Team, No.

2 Mine, No. 1 Oil Explorations Factory, Daqing City,

Heilongjiang Province, resident at 4-4-1-501 Jingxia Dengfeng

Village, Daqing City, Heilongjiang Province.

On December 19, 2000, Ms. Zhao Hongbo, went to Beijing

to appeal to the government to stop the persecution of Falun

Gong. The police from the Tiananmen Qianmen Police Station

in Beijing arrested her and transferred her to the Miyun County

Police Station in Beijing. They detained her for four days. Then

they escorted her back to the Sa District Police Station in

Daqing City, Heilongjiang Province, where they incarcerated her

for one month. Ms Zhao was then transferred to another deten-

tion center and detained for 15 days. All this time, while she

was incarcerated, she was nursing her baby. On February 21,

2001, the Party Secretary of the No. 2 Mine, No. 1 Oil

Explorations Factory, Zhang Jixian, fined Ms. Zhao 15,000

Yuan (the average monthly income for an urban worker in

China is 500 Yuan), confiscated four months' salary, totaling

about 2,800 Yuan, and withheld her salary several times, total-

ing an additional 3,000 Yuan. On August 22, 2002, the local

police arrested Ms. Zhao again for giving her colleagues VCDs

that contained Falun Gong information.

Forced to Become Homeless with Newborn Baby

Mr. Zhou Yongnian's wife, resident of Tongzhou District,

Yangzhou City, Jiangsu Province.

On February 19, 2000, Mr. Zhou Yongnian and his wife

were arrested and detained for a month because they prac-

ticed the Falun Gong exercises outdoors. At that time, Mrs.

Zhou was two months pregnant. After they were released, the

police continued to threaten them relentlessly. On October 1,

2000, the Tongzhou District Police Station arrested Mr. Zhou

Yongnian after he and his wife appealed to the government to

stop persecuting Falun Gong. On April 6, 2001, the Tongzhou

District Court sentenced him to a nine-year term. On December

8, 2000, during a search of Mr. Zhou's home, the Tongzhou

District Police Station illegally took possession of all his valu-

ables, including cash. Since then, their home has been

searched and ransacked three times. The Tongzhou Police

Station put Mrs. Zhou and her 28-day-old baby under constant

surveillance. She was not allowed to answer phone calls and

was followed if she went out. Because of this relentless perse-

cution, she fled from her home with her newborn baby even

though she had no money. Her and her baby's whereabouts

are unknown.

Nursing Mother Taken to Brainwashing Class

Hou Huiru, female, 28, a teacher of the Xinhua Elementary

School, Shijiazhuang City, Hebei Province.

Since Ms. Hou Huiru practices Falun Gong, Zhao Wenting,

the principal of the Xinhua Elementary School, suspended Ms.

Hou from teaching classes. Zhao also withheld money from Ms.

Hou's salary and detained her at the school. After releasing

her, Zhao then hired two security guards to monitor Ms. Hou

day and night. Later, Zhao Wenting, together with officers from

the "610 Office", forcibly took Ms. Hou and her husband to an

anti-Falun Gong brainwashing class, leaving their nine-month-

old baby, who was still in need of breast-feeding, unattended.