SAN FRANCISCO — A Chinese man who sought refuge in the U.S. and was originally denied asylum has been granted a reprieve by a U.S. appeals court. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the original judge had overlooked that Chinese officials had forcibly aborted Xiao Lan Zheng's first child, and threatened to sterilize his wife after their second child was born.
Zheng and his wife, Xiu Qin Wen, were married in a traditional ceremony despite not having attained the legal age for marriage in the country. When Wen became pregnant with their first child at 19, officials forced her to abort the baby because she was not legally married in their eyes — all unwed mothers in China are forced to abort their children.
Three years later, Wen gave birth to a baby girl. Government officials requested that the couple apply for legal recognition of their marriage. They also ordered her to be sterilized, to prevent the couple from exceeding the country's one-child law.
In 1999, Zheng fled China by boat. The boat was intercepted and Zheng was detained in Guam.
“Zheng is therefore eligible for asylum because of the forced abortion of his child even though China does not recognize his marriage to Wen,” Judge Raymond Fisher said, as reported by Reuters news.
See also:
U.S. Court Grants Asylum to Chinese Couple Threatened with Forced Abortion
(This update courtesy of LifeSiteNews.com.)
