Feng Jianmei, who was forced to have an abortion in 2013 by local officials at seven months pregnant

A woman from Guangdong, China, has died after being forced to have an abortion by her mother-in-law.

The woman, named only as Chen, died in July 2015 but the details were revealed this month in Chinese media for the first time.

Chen had already given birth to three daughters, according to the People's Daily Online. Her mother in law was desperate for a grandson and had forced her to abort any further children if scans revealed them to be baby girls.

Eight forced abortions

Because of this, Chen was forced to have eight abortions in total when she was discovered to be carrying more daughters, before she died due to internal bleeding during her nine abortion.

According to reports, Chen had been depressed and at one point suicidal as a result of her ordeal. On her ninth abortion, she entered the operating theatre but did not come out alive.

The repeated abortions she had endured had made the wall of her uterus dangerously thin and she suffered excessive bleeding during the procedure.

Online discussions

The case has prompted large discussion on the internet in China with more than 14 million people weighing in. Many questioned whether the woman's husband should have done more to help her and also how the mother-in-law could put the woman through so much trauma and stress.

It is currently unknown whether the mother-in-law has been charged over the incident.

Chinese one-child policy

The Chinese government has been operating an oppressive population control policy since 1979. Its one-child policy - where couples must apply for a licence from the state to have a child, and are sanctioned for any ‘unauthorised’ children - has been described as "a barbaric experiment in social engineering" and as "the greatest bioethical atrocity on the globe."

Millions of women have been subjected to forcible contraception, sterilisation and abortion. Widespread sex-selective abortion (also known as Gendercide) has led to a dangerously skewed sex ratio among young age groups.

Despite media reports to the contrary, the one-child policy has not been abolished. Instead it has been 'relaxed' to a two-child policy and the state coercion elements detailed above continues.