Amnesty International Calls for Action; A Woman Undergoes a Forced Abortion While Awaiting Execution
Lanzhou City, China: August 23.
Ma Weihua, a 29-year old woman facing the death penalty on drug charges, has reportedly been forced to have an abortion in police custody. China's Criminal Law forbids the execution of pregnant women, but Chinese newspaper reports suggest that Ma Weihua's pregnancy was terminated so that she could be put to death legally.
Amnesty International has put together some resources to help people advocate on Ma Weihua’s behalf.
Ma Weihua was arrested in January for possession of 1.6kg (3.5 lbs) of heroin, a crime punishable by death in China. China’s anti-drug laws are incredibly harsh. In June this year China executed up to a hundred people for drug related offenses in order to mark the UN world Anti-Drugs day. However the number of recorded drug users has been on the increase over the past five years.
Posted by sally at 11:18 AM
Comments
Amnesty International has regular calls for action on their website. You can access their Abolish the Death Penalty Campaign on their website: http://www.amnestyusa.org/abolish/index.do
Posted by: Valentina at September 10, 2004 11:50 AM
If a female is pregnancy she should not be forced to have an abortion. She should have had choice or maybe a plea bargin. If she got pregnant while in police custody then investigate how it happened. If she was pregnant before going into custody then her pregnacy should not have been terminated. Being a woman it is cruel and unusual to to the right to have children away. China is a whole different setting in comparision to the USA. They have higher expectations do to low amount of jobs and etc. Most of their punishments or horrible and should never be considered here in America.
Posted by: Gini at November 9, 2004 09:09 PM
