BEIJING—Chinese authorities have suspended family planning officials who forced a woman to have a late-term abortion after news of the case sparked a torrent of outrage online and refocused attention on abuses carried out under the country’s one-child policy.
The woman, 23-year-old Feng Jianmei, was seven months pregnant when she was detained and taken to a hospital, where she was coerced into undergoing an abortion on June 2, family members said.
Ms. Feng’s case attracted widespread attention after graphic photos of her lying on a hospital bed next to her aborted fetus began circulating online earlier this week.
The case brought the practice of forced abortions back into the news just a few weeks after one its highest profile opponents, blind legal activist Chen Guangcheng, made global headlines with his daring escape from home confinement and six-day stay inside the U.S. Embassy in Beijing.
Mr. Chen, now at a student at New York University, spent seven years under various forms of detention after he filed a class-action lawsuit in 2005 on behalf of women forced to undergo abortions or sterilizations in his home province of Shandong.
Authorities in Ankang, the city in central China’s Shaanxi province where the abortion occurred, say they have apologized to Ms. Feng and her husband and that three officials, including the head of the local family planning department, have been suspended.
“Pending a thorough investigation into the incident, [the Ankang city government] will pursue strict legal and disciplinary action against the relevant parties,” said a statement posted Thursday night on the Ankang city government’s website.
In a separate statement, also posted Thursday night, the city said it had dispatched deputy mayor Du Shouping to the hospital to visit Ms. Feng and her husband.
“On behalf of the city government, I’ve come to visit you today to express our sincere apologies,” Mr. Du said, according to the statement. “I hope we can earn your forgiveness.”
Writing on his verified account on popular Twitter-like microblogging service Sina Weibo earlier in the week, Ms. Feng’s husband, Deng Liyuan, said his wife was forced to have the abortion after the family failed to raise the cash to pay a 40,000 yuan ($6,278) fine for having a second child.
