The real fight for Chen Guangcheng begins now

The real fight for Chen Guangcheng begins now | The Cable: Tom Malinowski, Human Rights Watch's Washington director says the Chen case is an opportunity for the United States to reposition itself on the issue of human rights in a way that aligns American foreign policy with the Chinese people. "Chen is more than a dissident; he's a folk hero," Malinowski said. "This is someone who the Chinese people are rooting for. The fact that the only power in Beijing willing to protect him was the U.S. gives the U.S. government the moral high ground in this drama in the broader Chinese public."

Editor: Ironically, Human Rights Watch's position on abortion states that "[a]ny restriction on abortion that unreasonably interferes with a woman's exercise of her full range of human rights is unacceptable. Governments should take all necessary steps, both immediate and incremental, to ensure that women have informed and free access to safe and legal abortion services as an element of women’s exercise of their reproductive and other human rights." They do not recognize any right to life of the unborn that surmounts the rights of the pregnant women.

It also says, "restrictions on access to safe and legal abortion may give rise to situations that constitute cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment. These situations include forcing a pregnant woman to carry an unwanted or health-threatening pregnancy to term." Strangely, they have no position on the kinds of coercive practices that their champion Chen exposed -- forced abortion.

HRW also approves of forcing doctors to perform abortion against their will: "Freedom of religion and conscience is often invoked by health practitioners opposed to abortion, claiming a “conscientious objection” to providing certain services, notably abortions. While the human rights framework allows for conscientious objection in some cases, there are limits. For example, conscience cannot justify the refusal to perform a lifesaving abortion when there is no other suitable alternative treatment for the pregnant woman."

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