On September 11th, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta, Georgia ruled that a Chinese woman, Shao Yu Yuan, has the right to appeal her denial of asylum. She, her husband, and her children have been living in Harrison, Arkansas, although Yuan was facing deportation.
She was originally arrested for illegal entry into the United States in 1999, but feared that if she were deported she would be forced to undergo sterilization under China's family planning law. She is already the mother of two daughters, and Chinese law typically limits parents to one child per family, with some exceptions for certain ethnic and socioeconomic groups, couples who are both only children, and for couples who lose an only child.
The judges noted in their decision that Yuan presented sufficient reason to believe that she would be forcibly sterilized if she were required to return to China. In court, she argued that in 2005, officials in the Fujian province (where her hometown is located) had become more aggressive on sterilization, and that relatives still living in China warned her that pregnant women in the province were being forced to undergo abortions and sterilizations.
The three judges who heard the case cited the Convention Against Torture as a reason for their decision; they also cited a similar case, 2007's Li v. U.S. Attorney General. In the 2007 case, another woman from the Fujian province made a similar argument. As a result of the ruling, the U.S. Board of Immigration Appeals is required to hear Yuan's request for asylum. Yuan's attorney, Ted Cox, is confident that the court's decision will allow her and her daughters to remain in the United States.
Admittedly, this is the first time I have heard of a person claiming political asylum over the possibility of forced sterilization (or any reproductive right, for that matter). I'm frustrated that this story doesn't seem to be garnering much media attention, because the court's decision makes an important statement about reproductive rights and politics.
As a country that welcomes people seeking asylum from repressive governments, we need to make sure we recognize the importance of rights to both birth control and birth for all women. The court's decision calls attention to the fact that reproductive rights are intensely political as well as personal, and that women's bodies should neither be forced into pregnancy or sterilization because of the government's laws. Women whose reproductive decision are controlled by the government should be allowed to flee to the United States for political asylum, because their bodies and reproductive choices should not be manipulated and repressed by any state.
The Georgia court recognizes Yuan's agency and ability to make her own decisions, as well as illustrating the importance of reproductive freedom. Although I've been concerned about the repressive attitude that many U.S. lawmakers have taken towards birth control as of late, I nonetheless am inspired and hopeful because of these three judges. Their ruling demonstrates a respect for the rights of all women to have children or not, and an understanding of the importance of personal agency and autonomy when it comes to decisions about one's own life and body.