Every Christmas, my family and I each take pick a person from a list published by Amnesty International and we send them a card. Since Amnesty started to support abortions, Catholics have been discouraged from getting involved with them or their work but their annual greetings card campaign doesn’t directly involve Amnesty. They publish a nice list and you can choose, you don’t need to sign up for Amnesty or give them any money.

Anyway, I found this case and thought it was pretty sobering…

In 2005 Chen Guangcheng, a blind human rights activist and self-trained legal adviser to the poor, fell foul of the authorities in Shandong province after bringing attention to an illegal campaign of forced abortion and sterilisation which affected thousands of women. Before his arrest, Chen Guangcheng had been helping villagers prepare a lawsuit against the local authority responsible.

He is serving a four-year and three-month prison sentence for ‘damaging property’ and ‘disrupting traffic’. His trial in August 2006 was grossly unfair: his lawyer was obstructed from gathering evidence and representing him in court.

In December 2008, after 18 months of separation, Chen Guangcheng’s wife, Yuan Weijing, was allowed to visit him. She said she was shocked to see how ill he was, and is now trying to seek legal help so he can apply for medical parole. She has endured repeated harassment from the police, including physical assault, and has periodically been prevented from seeing her husband in prison.

As a Catholic, I’m sending my card to Chen Guancheng. It’s important to let him know that we’ve got his back. :)

Labels: abortion, christmas