Forced abortion blamed for mental illness
Print Edition
The family of a woman said to have developed a mental disorder after being forced to terminate her pregnancy at seven months have rejected the offer of subsidies from authorities in Lianyuan City in central China’s Hunan Province.
Wu Yongyuan, husband of Gong Qifeng, said they were claiming compensation rather than asking for subsidies because they wanted justice. Local authorities were merely offering aid and trying to avoid their responsibilities, he said.
According to news portal www.chengdu.cn, the city’s letters and complaints office said it would be hard to prove Gong’s illness was connected to her induced labor.
It suggested government and civil affairs bureau in Anping Town offer civil relief and judicial help.
Gong was diagnosed as schizophrenic by Shaoyang Brain Hospital in June.
Wu and Gong, Anping Town natives, already had a son before Gong became pregnant again and they did not qualify for a second baby under China’s family planning policy.
Wu said his wife disappeared on a November afternoon in 2011 and he made every effort to find her, only to be told she was in Lianyuan TCM Hospital.
When Wu arrived at the hospital, Gong had been given an injection to induce an abortion.
Li Yinying, head nurse in the obstetrics department, confirmed that Gong had been forcibly escorted to hospital. Wu said Gong told him she hadn’t signed any agreement for medical treatment.
Wu Yongqin, the department’s deputy director, said a government official helped to sign Gong’s name as well as his own, Xiao Xiaochao, on the form.
Xiao couldn’t be reached for comment.
She said Gong’s relatives were present but they denied they were there.
After the injection, Gong was in extreme pain and doctors were unable to do anything to help. After suffering for 30 hours, the 35-centimeter dead fetus was delivered. The couple was banned from touching the child and a nurse assisant buried it on a nearby hilltop, where many other dead infants were buried.
Documents from the Lianyuan family planning service station proved that Gong had been taken there before being driven to the hospital.
An anonymous official said family planning officials from Anping Town — Zhou Haibo, Liu Xiangyong and Wu Tanqing — accompanied her.
Before the husband rushed to the hospital, he had told Zhou at the station that he would pay the fines to keep his child. But Zhou said it was too late.
Gong had no history of mental illness and an operation in 2004 to remove a brain tumor would not have triggered schizophrenia, Wu Yongyuan said. He blamed it on the forced abortion.
He said his wife had begun to scratch and bite. “She used to be so gentle that she’d never quarreled with me since we got married,” Wu said.
Family members said Gong would feed her son raw beef, make him wear too many clothes and took pills as if they were rice. She is scared of people who look like officials and always thinks someone is looking for her, the report said.
Abortion is illegal for women more than seven months pregnant, including those who violate the one-child policy.
Local authorities haven’t commented on Wu’s claims but a family planning official in Anping said although induced labor was harmful to health they would still insist on it. Yi Zhongru, the township head, described it as obligation.
In June 2012, seven officials in northwest China’s Shaanxi Province were punished for forcing a woman to end her pregnancy after seven months. The woman received 70,000 yuan (US$11,420) in an out-of-court settlement.
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