A Chinese
woman who has campaigned against China's one-child-per-family
policy for 15 years has been sentenced to time in a prison labor camp
and allegedly has been tortured while in custody because of her
protests, according to a
Human Rights in China statement released on Wednesday,
Reuters/Yahoo! News reports. Mao
Hengfeng in 1988 was fired from her job at a Shanghai soap factory for
becoming pregnant with a second child (
Reuters/Yahoo! News,
10/6). Mao carried her pregnancy to term despite "severe pressure" from
the government to have an abortion, the
AFP/Australian
reports. Mao -- who had become pregnant again -- then sued the soap
factory for firing her, and the presiding judge told her he would rule
in her favor if she aborted her pregnancy, according to HRIC, the
AFP/Australian
reports. Mao aborted her seven-month-gestation pregnancy against her
wishes, but the court ruled against her, saying that because she
violated China's family planning policy, the factory had a right to
dismiss her (
AFP/Australian, 10/6). Mao in April was
sentenced to 18 months in a prison labor camp for refusing to give up
her protests of the government's family planning policy. Mao also has
undergone "severe beatings" and has been "bound hand and foot and
suspended in mid-air," HRIC said in the statement. Shanghai city
government and public security officials declined to comment on the
report,
Reuters/Yahoo! News reports (
Reuters/Yahoo!
News, 10/6).