Colo. Senate Candidate Schaffer Criticized For Not Acknowledging Forced Abortions In Northern Mariana Islands

Main Category: Abortion
Article Date: 24 Apr 2008 - 6:00 PDT

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Two Colorado-based antiabortion groups are criticizing former U.S. Rep. Bob Schaffer (R), a candidate with a solid antiabortion voting record who is running for the U.S. Senate, for not acknowledging human rights violations in the Northern Mariana Islands, where Chinese factory workers have allegedly undergone forced abortions, the Denver Post reports (Hoover, Denver Post, 4/21). Schaffer is running against U.S. Rep. Mark Udall (D) for an open Colorado U.S. Senate seat (Bartels, Denver Rocky Mountain News, 4/22).

According to the Post, Colorado Right to Life and the affiliated group American Right to Life Action are accusing Schaffer of ignoring reports of forced abortions during a 1999 trip to the islands. Schaffer has declined meeting requests from both groups, the Post reports (Denver Post, 4/21). Steve Curtis, spokesperson for ARTL, said the groups want to meet with Schaffer to discuss the alleged forced abortions and whether he would reconsider supporting China's favored-nation trading status with the U.S. given the reports of forced abortions in China and among Chinese workers on the islands. Curtis said his group and CRTL also are concerned that Schaffer has not publicly supported a proposed Colorado ballot measure that would amend the state's constitution to grant "personhood" to fertilized eggs, the News reports (Denver Rocky Mountain News, 4/22).

Curtis said Schaffer should explain his position, adding that the "pro-life movement will no longer give a pass to candidates ... who look the other way when Chinese women are forced to abort their children." Schaffer's campaign manager Dick Wadhams said that Schaffer is supported by many antiabortion advocates and that CRTL and ARTL are "are on the fringe of the pro-life movement" and "do not represent by any stretch of the imagination the hundreds of thousands of pro-life Coloradans."

According to the Post, CRTL is considered a "rouge organization" by some antiabortion advocates because of its "all-or-nothing" approach to overturning Roe v. Wade. The National Right to Life Committee recently removed CRTL as its state chapter and replaced it with Colorado Citizens for Life after CRTL criticized Focus on the Family Founder James Dobson. Colorado Citizens for Life President Connie Pratt said that the allegations that Schaffer is "not sufficiently pro-life" are "objectively untrue and simply irrational to argue." Jim Pfaff -- president of Colorado Family Action, the political arm of Focus on the Family -- said Schaffer is "consistently a pro-life legislator."

Schaffer and the Northern Mariana Islands

A 1998 U.S. Office of Insular Affairs report found inadequate living conditions for Chinese factory workers living in the Northern Mariana Islands, and a statement that accompanied the report said that factory workers who became pregnant were either fired or told to return to China where they would be forced to undergo abortions. According to the report, women who became pregnant often tried to end pregnancies by themselves or obtain abortions in Saipan, the islands' capital. During the 1990s, several government reports, investigations by human rights groups reported forced abortions and other human rights violations, the Post reports.

Schaffer said he met with "dozens" of factory workers and local religious leaders during his visit to discuss the alleged forced abortions, adding that he tried to determine how often the abortions occurred. He added that he found the OIA report "credible" but "did not observe a forced abortion or meet anybody who had any knowledge of them" during his trip (Denver Post, 4/21). "None of [the religious leaders] could confirm any examples or episodes of" the alleged forced abortions, Schaffer said (Denver Rocky Mountain News, 4/22).

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