Expert: New York abortion law 'more barbaric than China'

Many Americans have been horrified to learn of the abortion-until-birth law passed last week by lawmakers in New York state.

How, they ask, could such a death agenda have been installed in America?

Now, a longtime opponent of China's forced-abortion policy says New York's abortion law is even more barbaric than "that of the Chinese Communist Party."

Reggie Littlejohn, president of the nonprofit Women's Rights Without Frontiers, points out that once a woman is in labor in China, the baby cannot be killed.

She pointed to an explanation of China's policy by a physician, which she warned is not for the faint of heart

Usually the induced labor is for the out-of-plan pregnancies. In my hospital we do induced labor under the population and family planning official documents. This is something about the population and family planning policy. This is a state policy! If the infant comes out alive after induced labor, it will violate the policy. Also if the infant's family finds out that the infant is alive, it is a failure to us, and a medical accident. If we just throw the infant alive to a trashcan and it dies there, we will be sued by its family when they see it. My point is that for induced labor, no matter how many months the infants are, we can never let infants come out alive, nor should any signs of life of the infants be shown to their families. For infants that are over 38 weeks, we need to listen to their embryocardia. If they do have embryocardia, don't tell their mothers or family members first. Instead, prepare 95% absolute alcohol to inject into the infant's fontanelle and postpone the labor [to make sure the infant is dead]. This can also protect ourselves. However, if the pregnant woman is about to give birth and already has uterine contractions when sent to hospital, there is nothing we could do. They will have to take the infant alive back home as well. (Emphasis added.)

Unlike China's policy, the New York law allows abortion up until the moment of birth. A similar bill failed in Virginia, but other states have proposed such legislation.

"How can it be that in the United States an abortion law exists that is even more barbaric than that of the Chinese Communist Party?" Littlejohn asked.

"How did we reach this point, and what does it mean for our future? If we can learn anything from the agony of China's One Child Policy, it is that such brutality must be stopped before it spreads. Aborting a baby that is in the process of being born is an act of barbarism that should not be enshrined in the laws of our land," Littlejohn said.

China's policy, which now allows two children per couple, has made it difficult for men to find brides, because so many females have been selectively aborted in a culture that values male heirs.

It also has created a demand for human trafficking and a shortage of workers to support the pensions of seniors.

"When I testified before Congress the first time in November 2009, I presented a shocking document I titled 'Best Practices – Infanticide,'" Littlejohn explained. "It is an email chain from April 2009 discussing the topic, 'What if the infant is still alive after induced labor?' It was downloaded from the official Chinese website for obstetricians and gynecologists. At the time, 'Best Practices – Infanticide' constituted a compelling testimony against the brutal enforcement of China's One Child Policy.

"Never did I imagine that ten years later, a law in New York, and a proposed law in Virginia, would allow procedures more extreme even than those required by the Chinese Communist Party under the One Child Policy," she said.

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam unleashed a firestorm of criticism last week when, in his defense of his state's bill, he seemed to advocate infanticide.

"If a mother is in labor, I can tell you exactly what would happen," he said in a radio interview. "The infant would be delivered. The infant would be kept comfortable. The infant would be resuscitated if that's what the mother and the family desired. And then, a discussion would ensue between the physicians and the mother."

Littlejohn pointed out that the New York law allows abortion to be performed during labor.

The law allows late-term abortion only if the mother's life or health is at risk. But she argued the term "health" is not defined.

Under the Doe v. Bolton Supreme Court precedent, "health" includes "all factors – physical, emotional, psychological, familial and the woman's age – relevant to the well-being of the patient."

"This expansive definition of 'health' has been interpreted to allow abortion at any time for any reason," she said.

She noted that lawmakers and others in the New York Senate chamber cheered the passage of the bill, and Gov. Andrew Cuomo ordered that the One World Trade Center be illuminated in pink to celebrate.

Littlejohn pointed out last year that China is still conducting forced abortions even though it has "relaxed" its policy, allowing couple's to have two children instead of only one.

She contends China's force-abortion policy is the real "war on women." It has caused a surge in suicide and breast cancer along with an imbalance between men and women, and a dwindling work force to support pensioners.

Women's Rights Without Frontiers also operates a "Save a Girl" campaign through which support is directed to mothers of girls facing financial hardship by raising a child.