Yueyue's relatives demanding justice for her death - caused by complications following four forced abortions.
It is being reported that a mother of one from Eastern China has died after her husband forced her to abort four babies in the space of a year - because he was determined to have a son.
The woman, named only as Yueyue, became bedridden after being subjected to the four abortions in a short space of time. Instead of taking care of her, the husband sent Yueyue a divorce proposal, which she had no choice but to accept. Despite using the money from the divorce settlement to seek medical attention in a Shanghai hospital, her condition deteriorated and she died.
Family seeks justice against cruel husband
Images have emerged on social media of Yueyue's mother (who is said to be in a wheelchair after the shock of her daughter's death brought on a stroke) and other family members descending on the ex-husband's home with her ashes to demand justice. The man, who the reports say was planning to buy a new car so he could marry another woman, refused to meet her family and hid in a neighbour's house. Police were called, and are apparently now investigating the case.
It seems the couple already had a four year old daughter, but after the Chinese government changed its coercive family planning laws to allow two children rather than one, the husband wanted to try to have a son. Despite it being illegal in China to inform mothers of a child's sex, in an attempt to correct the huge gender inbalance in the country caused by sex-selective abortion, the husband forced Yueyue to undergo ultrasound scans, and abort the baby if it was a girl - which happened four times in the space of a year.
Abortion a deadly weapon against women
It is still common for Chinese families, especially in rural areas, to value boys over girls. In October last year, over 70 people were arrested in connection with a widespread network that ran an illegal service identifying the sex of unborn babies. One shocking case last year, which received widespread coverage, involved a woman who died after her mother-in-law forced her to endure nine abortions.
SPUC's Fiorella Nash, who has done extensive research on gender based and forced abortion, said: "This tragic case is yet another example of abortion being used as a deadly weapon again unborn baby girls and their mothers. Sex selective abortion is the most violent form of misogyny and it is being practised around the world on a vast scale, whilst feminist groups for the most part remain silent. A woman and her four unborn daughters are dead, leaving behind a grieving family and a young child, but this horrific story has been almost completely ignored by the western media. Do the deaths of women from abortion only matter when those deaths are politically useful?"
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