One could spend all day remonstrating about the numerous injustices generated by the Chinese Government, and some people do! Last year students from Campion College on behalf of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children,a UK-based pro-life organisation, organised a monthly protest outside the Chinese consulate in Newtown, Sydney, opposing China’s one-child policy. In particular, the group targeted the ongoing forced abortions and sterilisations carried out on women who refuse to accept or for other reasons break the terms of the policy.
But if the one-child policy is just one in a great number of human rights tragedies in China, its Government’s complete disregard for the sanctity of human life and the rights of both the born and the unborn characterises the current Culture of Death not only in China but also in much of the Western world.
The Chinese Government is supported by the United Nations Population Fund, which is supported by most major Western governments, including Australia’s. The purpose of the protests, which were also held in London and Dublin, was to put pressure on our own governments and to challenge their actions, which essentially make them accomplices in one of the modern world’s most hideous crimes.
As the Olympics approach, China’s misinformation machine has gone into gear on their forced abortion regime. Following a Beijing press conference in late February from Zhao Baige, Vice-Minister of China’s National Population and Family Planning Commission, headlines have appeared around the world proclaiming “China could scrap its one-child policy" and "China considers ending one-child policy". However, China experts have warned repeatedly that the Chinese Communist regime makes misleading statements about human rights when the international spotlight is on China, such as now, in the run-up to the Olympics. Such statements are intended for Western consumption only and specifically designed to mislead Westerners into wishful thinking that the regime's crimes against humanity, such as the one-child policy, are coming to an end.
In the meantime, pro-life workers in the West face new battles. The UK Government’s Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill is racing through the Parliament. The Bill breaks new moral boundaries, such as legal provision for the creation of interspecies, or human-animal embryos. The UK Government has also said that the Bill will permit cells which have been taken from people in the past to be used to create cloned embryos. What is happening today in Britain may all too easily spread to Australia in the near future.
If the battle lines are widening, that would indicate a greater amount of help is required. We are fortunate in Australia to have so many good people working for human rights and promoting a pro-life culture. We need more. As young adults we have a responsibility to stand up and speak up for those who do not have a voice. To do this we need to strengthen our own resolve and our own voices.
Students at Campion are currently in the process of establishing a human rights organisation and hope to be able to invite Catholic students and young adults to events in the near future. We must also be encouraged by countries which are beacons of hope to the world – such as Nicaragua, the Philippines and Malta – which are bravely defending legislation which gives complete protection to unborn children in spite of overwhelming pressure from overseas governments, including our own. Young people must stand in support of these courageous nations and at the frontline of the battle on the greatest human rights issue in the world today – the battle against the killing of the unborn. 
