Harrowing details of Chen Guangcheng’s escape; accomplice gone missing
Read my previous post on Chinese pro-life dissident Chen Guangcheng’s escape to the U.S. Embassy, where he has reportedly been holed up since April 22.
According to the Los Angeles Times this morning, an agreement has been reached between the U.S. and China that Guangcheng and his family, pictured below, will remain in his home country, as is his wish, with assurances they “can live a normal life,” including relocation to a “safe environment” and ability to attend university.
Now come harrowing details from Reggie Littlejohn of Women’s Rights without Frontiers, explaining exactly how this blind man under house arrest made his way to freedom.
According to LAT, Guangcheng’s accomplice, He Peirong, mentioned in Littlejohn’s report and pictured right, is still missing, as is Chen’s nephew, Chen Kegui. Reading Littlejohn’s account, I’m struck by the obvious heroism of these people, trying to stop forced sterilizations and abortions. It is a sobering gut check. How much are we willing to sacrifice to stop abortions in America?
He Peirong is a petite woman with a spine of steel. I know her because she spearheaded the movement to free Chen Guangcheng inside China, while I have played a similar role in the U.S. and Europe. That’s where the similarity ends. I have advocated for Chen in complete safety. Peirong, however, has been beaten and detained repeatedly for this extremely dangerous undertaking. Now, she is detained again, for rescuing Chen.
How did Chen escape? The Chinese Communist Party clamped down on him as hard as it could. His house was surrounded by 66 guards working in three shifts – 22 guards every eight hours. His village was sealed off by yet more guards. His phone, computer and television were confiscated. He was completely shut off from the outside world. Plus he was sick and injured from all the beatings.
According to Peirong, Chen spent months on his back, pretending to be near death, so that his guards would relax their vigilance. Then on April 22, with exquisite timing, he scaled a wall and ran for his life, taking several wrong turns and falling into a river because of his blindness. Peirong drove 20 hours to meet Chen and fooled the village guards into letting her in. She disguised herself as a courier. Then she drove Chen another eight hours – still wet from his fall in the river – to safety in Beijing. Their plan was so masterfully executed that the authorities did not realize Chen was gone for four days.
Once authorities discovered that Chen was missing, the reprisals began. The Chinese Communist Party violently detained Chen’s older brother and nephew, and his wife, children and mother are at risk as well
As news of Chen’s escape was breaking, I skyped with Peirong on and off all Thursday night from Dublin, where I had testified about Chen at the Irish Parliament. Peirong was alone and worried – about Chen and his family, and about her own safety. Peirong knew that the price of securing Chen’s freedom might be her own.
At about 5:00 a.m. Dublin time, I skyped Peirong one last time and she did not answer. She had been detained, and no one has heard from her since. We don’t know if Peirong is being tortured or whether her detention will last days, months or years.
In pressing for Chen’s freedom, let us also press for the freedom of his rescuer, He Peirong, a hero in her own right. She stood up for Chen during his time of greatest need. The least we can do is stand by her as she pays a terrible price for her courage.
[Middle photo via LAT; bottom photo via Women’s Rights without Frontiers]
Trying to stop forced abortions and non-forced abortions are two different things.
2 likes
Gut check is right. It makes me shudder!! We take our freedom for granted. They are risking their lives and we don’t want to take a stand????
9 likes
So, apart from enacting anti-reproductive rights legislation, what exactly would you propose to do to stop abortion in the US?
2 likes
Good grief, Chen is an absolute hero. A blind man scales a wall and runs into an area he might not be that familiar with straight into a river?!? That is truly incredible bravery. A lot of folks wouldn’t be brave enough to do something like that when they could see where they were going. I am absolutely in awe.
13 likes
James: And being forced to kill your unborn child is a lot different than doing so of your own free will. The former is a victim, the latter is a perpetrator, of violence.
17 likes
CC, there are a thousand things pro-lifers can do, such as pray and protest in front of abortion mills, help at pregnancy care centers, and get involved in the political process to elect pro-life officials, to name three. The only real “sacrifices” we are called to make in America are time and money. But if every person who calls him- or herself pro-life would dedicate those two things, we could stop abortion.
16 likes
James says:
May 2, 2012 at 10:01 am
“Trying to stop forced abortions and non-forced abortions are two good things.”
I fixed it for you.
19 likes
“anti-reproductive rights” legislation?? Another laughable and dishonest characterization of abortion abolition. I didn’t know pro-lifers were trying to keep you from reproducing CC. But seriously, you gotta love cc’s consistent use of euphemisms for killing human beings in utero. Very nazi of you. Please try making some kind of argument that isn’t feeble-minded for once.
15 likes
Thanks for the update, Jill. Praying for Chen, He, their friends and families.
I can’t get the image of the baby/ girl or boy fetus who was drowned in a bucket out of my mind.
Speaking of that tragic image, I’ve noticed a pattern: when images of abortion vicims are posted, the abortion defenders don’t comment. Anyone else notice this? Maybe they have nothing to say when the visual facts are presented?
At any rate, this has changed my mind as to the value of graphic photos. As a culture, we adults need to see vicims of abortion. The killing continues in an outwardly society with great help from denail of what abortion does.
8 likes
“But if every person who calls him- or herself pro-life would dedicate those two things, we could stop abortion.”
As I said, the only way that you can make a real time difference is to elect anti-abortion rights politicians and that could also be problematic depending on the inevitable court cases that will ensue. The clinic protests which are seen, by many, as harassment of women only serve to alienate the pro-life movement from the rest of society, a majority of which support a woman’s right to an abortion in some circumstances.
You seem blissfully unaware that there are and will continue to be states where the pro-life movement is and continues to be a minority. In these areas, the laws won’t be changed. (In my state, Rep. Karen MacBeth’s intrusive sonogram law has been tabled due to strenuous opposition) And despite prayer and the presence of crisis pregnancy centers, there are and will continue to be women who support a woman’s right to choose. And while you love to suggest that college women are trending pro-life, the reality is that there are just as many young women who are members of campus pro-choice organizations and who volunteer to escort at Planned Parenthood. And while you tout your “Christian” pro-life view, the reality is that there are and continue to be religious groups who proudly support women’s reproductive rights. And there are and continue to be colleges that teach abortion procedures.
Abortion ending in this country any time soon? Not likely – despite all your prayers.
0 likes
anti-reproductive rights” legislation??
You betcha, CWK. Abortion and access to contraception is a reproductive right. Attempting to destroy Planned Parenthood, which provides medical care related to women’s reproductive organs, is an attempt to limit reproductive rights. Attempt to impose unnecessary and intrusive medical procedures that go into women’s ” reproductive organs are an assault on reproductive rights. The war on women is all about reproductive rights as in the right to reproduce when and if it is desired.
0 likes
And BTW – anti-reproductive rights is a term used by the Attorney General of California. In 2009, a document was published of crimes against “reproductive rights” – crimes committed by those who are, most likely, “pro-life.”
http://ag.ca.gov/cjsc/publications/pdf/arrc10.pdf
0 likes
CC,
“In my state, Rep. Karen Macbeth’s intrusive sonogram laws..”
Do you think the sonogram is intrusive when it’s used to perform the abortion? What about the abortion itself? Isn’t that intrusive? It’s sad how you lie to yourself about so many things because of your love for abortion “rights”.
And you’re wrong about abortion ending. Abortion rights in this country are crumbling. You’re repeating the opposite to yourself over and over because I imagine the idea of abortion abolition is unthinkable to you. But please don’t take my word for it. Go check out the March for Life in D.C. next year and then compare it to the pro-abortion rally. That should deflate your take where abortion really is.
14 likes
People are getting better information through better science. The technology of the 4d sonogram cannot be impeached, and I, who work with college kids on a daily basis, see an awakening of hearts in the youth. You can shout rights, reproductive freedom, war on women, ad nauseum; still, lots and lots of us can look into that bucket (horrible pic from yesterday) and know that poor baby was a member of the human family we would not save.
Curious, though, CC. What DO you think that was in the bucket of water? However you answer extends to every baby denied birth, not just the un/wanted ones.
11 likes
Yeah right CC,
Killing human beings in utero isn’t medical care for your reproductive organs. Pregnancy is not a disease that needs to be treated with carcinogenic drugs and petroleum based products. ANd no one here that I know of is arguing about outlawing contraception. That’s a distraction fabricated by your fellow ideologues. You wanna contracept? Do it on your own dime. And what’s your point about the attorney general using the term “reproductive rights”? So what? DIdn’t know the California attorney general was the ultimate moral authority in this country. Margaret Sanger referred to blacks as weeds. Do you think blacks are weeds CC?
12 likes
Thanks for the update, Jill. Praying for Chen, He, their friends and families.
I can’t get the image of the baby/ girl or boy fetus who was drowned in a bucket out of my mind.
Speaking of that tragic image, I’ve noticed a pattern: when images of abortion vicims are posted, the abortion defenders don’t comment. Anyone else notice this? Maybe they have
nothing to say when the visual facts are presented?
At any rate, this has changed my mind as to the value of graphic photos. As a culture, we adults need to see vicims of abortion. The killing
continues in an outwardly civil society with great help from denail of what abortion does.
5 likes
“Do you think the sonogram is intrusive when it’s used to perform the abortion.”
If it’s medically necessary, it’s fine. But what isn’t fine is when doctors are required to read from a state prepared script and communicate information that isn’t necessary. Face it, the VA transvaginal thing was a huge set-back for the pro-life movement and shifted a bloc of voters into the “D” column.
”Abortion rights in this country are crumbling”
And where that’s happening there a real push-back. Again, a thousand women stood silently along the road to the VA Assembly building in order to protest a law that they felt went too far. It’s the war against reproductive rights that is giving the President his edge with women. And BTW, the governor of MN just vetoed an anti-reproductive rights bill. So it’s not crumbling as fast as you hope. The enlightened blue states are standing firm against those who would take women back to the dark ages. Sad for those who live in the other states. But hey, the rich get rich and the poor get babies.
Ain’t we got fun!
And Courtnay – how do we know the picture wasn’t photoshopped?
0 likes
You wanna contracept? Do it on your own dime.
If women are paying for their health insurance, they’re doing it on their own dime. Do you feel the same about Viagra which is currently covered under many health insurances?
Margaret Sanger referred to blacks as weeds. Do you think blacks are weeds CC?
Got a quote? And BTW, are you aware that she and WEB DuBois worked closely together to enable black women to get the same kind of access to birth control that white women had?
0 likes
CC, do you not see the obvious injustice in this particular case? I could cynically say I expect abortion advocates to look the other way here or be unmoved, but I feel bad not at least hoping one of you would cease trolling and commend this blind man who can see the truth better than many.
9 likes
an agreement has been reached between the U.S. and China that Guangcheng and his family, pictured below, will remain in his home country, as is his wish, with assurances they “can live a normal life,” including relocation to a “safe environment” and ability to attend university.
Yep, disappearing like the Panchen Lama and any other problematic dissident. Sad.
3 likes
Here you go CC, the truth about what and who you really support.
On the extermination of blacks:
“We do not want word to go out that we want to exterminate the Negro population,” she said, “if it ever occurs to any of their more rebellious members.”Woman’s Body, Woman’s Right: A Social History of Birth Control in American, by Linda Gordon
6 likes
Here’s another one for ya CC. You should be so proud. How you can look in the mirror or sleep at night is beyond me.
“The most merciful thing that a large family does to one of its infant members is to kill it.” Margaret Sanger, Women and the New Race (Eugenics Publ. Co., 1920, 1923)
9 likes
test
0 likes
Praying!!!
CC,
I was denied an ultrasound before my abortion. I was denied informed consent. I know now what I didn’t know then. Too late for my daughter though.
9 likes
“So, apart from enacting anti-reproductive rights legislation, what exactly would you propose to do to stop abortion in the US?”
Loan cc a gun and pray she does the honorable thing.
But based upon her inane feministic drivel it is doubtful she could come to the obvious conclusion without some collegial coaching.
2 likes
Wow, b o flew half way around the world to throw Chen under the campaign bus.
Either that or all that talk of eating dogs must have made him crave some canine cuisine.
Fresh dog meat is a pretty popular item on the menu in Chinese restaruants.
The ‘first dog’ can come out of hiding now. [b o actually has a dog named ‘bo’.]
Next thing you know b o will claim he ate that dog meat on a double blind date.
“But Obama has now told biographer David Maraniss that the ‘New York girlfriend’ was actually a composite character, based off of multiple girlfriends he had both in New York City and in Chicago.”
http://www.politico.com/blogs/media/2012/05/obama-ny-girlfriend-was-composite-character-122272.html
mr. bo-jangles manufactures ‘ex-girlfriends’ the same way he fabricated his birth certificate and his selective service registration: Something old, something new, something borrowed, something used.
All right, it is time for some of the ‘multiple girlfriends’ to step forward and stake their claim to fame: ‘We danced with mr. bo-jangles, when he was still just a penniless foreign exchange student pan handling his way thru college.’
2 likes
“And despite prayer and the presence of crisis pregnancy centers,”
CC,
Does that mean you acknowledge the power of our asking God for help to end abortion? Do you see God’s intervention as a big threat to abortion?
2 likes
CC,
The crisis pregnancy centers are the second most important; so you did hit one and two. And lucky for ‘us’ nobody gets to choose how God will answer prayers; and God does get to decide for us. You are also correct that politics and the help of man have their place in the struggle to end abortion; but they pale in comparison to the help of God. When pro-abort people like Planned Parenthood mock God by holding abortion partys for the ‘Christmas’ holidays they are actually helping the answer to our prayers come a little quicker ;)
2 likes
If you don’t think we are making a dent in the pro-life movement, if you’re convinced we won’t win – then why are you here?
Its like going on http://www.imdb.com to Paris Hilton’s page to argue that she cant act to those insistent that she can. You wouldn’t waste your time on such drivel as the universally acceptedidea is that she can’t and the group convinced she can would be so marginal that you wouldn’t waste your breath or key strokes. You wouldn’t be here trying to piss us off unless, well, we were pissing you all off.
A RECORD NUMBER of pro-life legislature was passed in 2011. Planned Parenthood is systematically being defunded. And actually the majority of this country is pro-life. YOU and your sect are the minority. The facts (statistics and science, etc..) are NOT on your side- in more ways than one.
So what you will have to settle for is just what you’re doing now. Trolling and screeching as loudly as you can that you’re right and we are wrong. Yea yea yea. We get it. We are awful. Whatever.
As far as the similarities go between forced abortion and non forced abortions – the end is the same: There is a dead child and there is pain and suffering. The mindset that children in any form are disposable and inconvenient – regardless of if it is a government or the mother making that choice – is beyond deplorable and arrogant. If anything we should see the precipice we are standing at and turn back and accept a mindframe and government that chooses life. Once you deem life worthless or useless at any stage it all becomes a slippery slope.
CC and others – if that picture weren’t revealed to have been taken in China and was found to have been taken at a clinic here – then what would you say? It’s permissible. Just curious. Not assuming that you’re all for late term abortions but just curious. (none of the “how do we know it isn’t photoshopped” business. Answer the question)
My prayers are with Chen. His work is admirable. He is courageous and amazing. I hope he and his family are safe.
This is why I don’t get on here before I head to bed. I get sucked in. To all a goodnight.
7 likes
Goodnight, Ashley.
2 likes
CC, we are making a difference. I’ve made a huge difference in the lives of the women who now have their babies because I talked them out of aborting. Maybe I haven’t impacted hundreds of women but to those few women and those few babies I was an impact.
Oh, so the attorney general of CA used the term “anti-reproductive rights”? George W. Bush used the term “internets”. Whats your point again?
3 likes