Fallacy One: Xinjiang imposed forced contraception and mandatory sterilization on Uygur women

Zenz claimed in his report Sterilizations, IUDs, and Mandatory Birth Control: The CCP's Campaign to Suppress Uyghur Birthrates in Xinjiang that the Chinese government imposed contraceptive surgery on the Uygur women with one child and sterilization on the Uygur women with three children. He cited the cases that Zumrat Dawut, Mihrigul Tursun, Tursunay Ziyawudun and other people underwent compulsory sterilization in the vocational education and training centers, claiming that in 2018, 80% of added IUD placements in China were performed in Xinjiang, and the new IUD received by Xinjiang women per capita every year is between 800 and 1,400.

In fact, the reproductive technology service in Xinjiang has always been based on the principle of combining state guidance with individual voluntariness, and people of all ethnic groups including the Uygurs have the right to make informed choice of contraceptive methods. Late-term abortion, forced contraception, forced pregnancy test and other illegal practices are prohibited in Xinjiang. It is entirely up to individuals to decide whether or not to take contraceptive measures and what kind of contraceptive methods to take. No organization or individual can interfere. Forced contraception has never happened in Xinjiang and there are no such problems as "forced sterilization" at all. Tulanisa Rehman, a woman from Lop County in Hotan Prefecture, said at a press conference on Xinjiang-related issues in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region on February 1, 2021, "the government cares about the reproductive health of ethnic minority women like me, and the female civil servants in our village often share with us information on pre-pregnancy health care. Women can get free folic acid and other health care products when they are pregnant, and they also enjoy medical insurance after childbirth. In our village, many families, like mine, have two or three children. If we had gotten 'forced contraception' or 'forced sterilization', there would not have been so many lovely children in our village."

As for Zumrat Dawut, Mihrigul Tursun, Tursunay Ziyawudun and those people mentioned in the report, actually they are "actresses" employed by Western anti-China forces and they make a living on discrediting Xinjiang abroad. Investigation reveals that Zumrat Dawut had never studied in a vocational education and training center. In March 2013, when she gave birth to her third child in the Urumqi Maternal and Child Health Care Hospital, she signed a consent form voluntarily, firmly requesting "to have a cesarean section and tubal ligation." The center subsequently conducted the operation as she requested. She was never sterilized, nor did she undergo a "uterus removal" as she claimed. On April 21, 2017, Mihrigul Tursun was detained by the Public Security Bureau of Qiemo County for inciting ethnic hatred and discrimination. Considering her situations and the fact that she was carrying infectious disease, the Public Security Bureau of Qiemo County lifted the compulsory measures taken against her on May 10, 2017. During her stay in China, she was completely free except for the 20 days of criminal custody. She has never been sentenced, she has never studied in a vocational education and training center, and she has never been forced to take drugs. No record shows she has received birth control surgery and her parents said that she is fertile. As for another "actress" Tursunay Ziyawudun, there is no record revealing that she has ever received contraceptive surgery. What's funnier is that Zenz used a photo of two Uygur women receiving physical examination in a hospital in order to prove that "forced sterilization" exists in Xinjiang. However, after verification, the photo is from people.cn. The caption of the photo says, "several young women of ethnic minorities from the rural area of Hotan Prefecture, Xinjiang, are enjoying their first free health check-up in the Hospital of the 29th Regiment of the Second Division of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps."

In Zenz's report, the content about new IUDs is full of absurdities. According to 2019 China Health Statistics Yearbook released by the National Health Commission, the number of new IUD placements in Xinjiang was 328,475 in 2018 and the number of the increase in the country was 3,774,318. Actually, the increase in Xinjiang only accounted for 8.7% of the national total increase, and the figure included Han women. Zenz's claim that the women in Xinjiang receive 4 to 8 IUD placements every day obviously is against the common sense. He fabricated the figures in order to create a false impression that most women in Xinjiang are forced to receive contraceptive surgery.

On the issue of violating family planning policy mentioned in Zenz's report, the law on family planning stipulates that citizens who violate relevant provisions shall pay social maintenance fees. The Xinjiang government website published an article pointing out that for residents who are temporarily unable to pay social maintenance fees due to financial difficulties can delay payment, or make installation payments. It can be seen that there are clear legal provisions and judicial procedures on how to deal with violations of family planning policy. There is no such situation in which those who have violated family planning policy are forced into the vocational education and training centers, as spread by Zenz.