BEIJING — A woman who was forced by local officials to abort a 7-month-old fetus this month and whose case has spurred a national discussion about China’s one-child policy said Tuesday that she was “under a lot of pressure” and was being watched by guards in a hospital, from which she is not allowed to leave.
The woman, Feng Jianmei, has been in a county hospital in Shaanxi Province since her child, a girl, was stillborn.
Officials induced labor June 2. Feng’s sister-in-law, also at the hospital, said Tuesday that her brother — Feng’s husband — was beaten last week and that local officials had led peasants in a march to denounce the family members as “traitors.”
The reported harassment came despite local officials being punished for the forced abortion after a photograph of the bedridden mother and the bloody fetus was posted on the Internet. Xinhua, the state news agency, reported Tuesday night that after an investigation, two county-level or lower officials were fired. Five others received a warning or demerit. The report also said the county government had been ordered to give a living subsidy to Feng.
Feng’s case has been a topic of intense discussion on the Internet, catalyzing a new round of scrutiny of China’s one-child policy.