SOME POLICIES ARE WORTH SECOND-GUESSING, SAID AULA'S YOEST IN RESPONSE TO VICE PRESIDENT BIDEN'S REMARKS ON

CHINA'S ONE-CHILD POLICY

Washington, D.C. (08-24-11) – Americans United for Life Action President and CEO Dr. Charmaine Yoest said that second-guessing a policy as gruesome as forced abortion is “a moral imperative” and urged the Obama Administration to engage the Chinese government on the “deadly human toll that forced abortion is causing for millions of families.”



While in China, Vice President Joe Biden made a remark about the Chinese one-child policy, in which families in urban areas are permitted only one-child while families in rural areas may have two if the first child is a girl, an outcome considered less desirable. When families do not comply with the policy, forced abortions, sterilizations and other human rights abuses occur.



LifeNews reported Biden’s comments as follows: “But as I was talking to some of your leaders, you share a similar concern here in China. You have no safety net,” Biden said in the prepared remarks. “Your policy has been one which I fully understand — I’m not second-guessing — of one child per family. The result being that you’re in a position where one wage earner will be taking care of four retired people. Not sustainable.”



A Biden spokesperson said Tuesday that the Vice President’s remarks were clearly about an economic issue and that the Obama Administration does not support the one-child policy.

“The Obama Administration should engage the Chinese government on the need to end such a gruesome practice as forced abortion,” said Dr. Yoest. “Already the country is suffering from the impact of the lack of girls that has been widely reported, along with the unintended economic consequences that the Vice President spoke about during his visit to China. This policy is morally, economically and socially harmful. The Obama Administration should second-guess such a policy and speak out about the human rights violations committed in its name.”