Biden's Capitulation Before China's One-Child Policy an Embarassment to America

The controversy over Joe Biden's statement that he does not "second guess" China's one-child policy continues to escalate.

John Boehner and Mitt Romney immediately criticized the Vice President and then a Biden staffer attempted to walk back the offensive words. But let's put this in a larger context. Biden is not just speaking deplorable moral relativism; he is engaging in a far-reaching reshaping of long-standing American foreign policy.

From the Heritage Foundation's blog, The Foundry:

Earlier this week, Vice President Joe Biden unnecessarily acknowledged and condoned communist China’s one-child-only policy in a speech to Chinese leaders while visiting the country to speak on U.S.–China relations.

Biden admitted he does not “second-guess” the horrific, decades-old policy, which often forces women to undergo unwanted abortions and sterilizations. His careless remarks singlehandedly compromised the U.S. position on human rights as it relates to population control. Speaker of the House John Boehner (R–OH) rightly called on the White House to issue a “clarification or correction.” A Biden spokesperson has since issued a statement saying he finds the policy “repugnant.”

Ironically, Biden has some history of opposing unethical abortion practices similar to the one-child policy, including a 1981 amendment that bears his name, which states that U.S. funds may not be used for biomedical research related to abortion or involuntary sterilization.

Until 2009, the Kemp–Kasten Amendment denied federal funding to organizations or programs that supported any kind of coercive abortion or involuntary sterilization. Unfortunately, after a long legislative battle, the Obama Administration restored funding to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), which supports Chinese family planning initiatives in certain parts of the country and claims it plays no role in coercive practices.

And while “coercive” abortion is technically illegal in China, it’s clear that abuses continue. The annual State Department country report on human rights, published this past April, says regarding China and its one-child policy:

…intense pressure to meet birth limitation targets set by government regulations resulted in instances of local family-planning officials using physical coercion to meet government goals. Such practices included the mandatory use of birth control and the abortion of unauthorized pregnancies. In the case of families that already had two children, one parent was often pressured to undergo sterilization.

By resuming U.S. funding to the UNFPA, the United States undoubtedly signaled reduced concern about these fundamental abuses of human rights. Vice President Biden’s remarks can only reinforce that message.

The Obama administration is by far the most pro-abortion, anti-life administration in American history and it is moving official American foreign policy radically leftward.

John Boehner's office responded to the attempted walk-back by Biden's staff as follows. (via John McCormack at the Weekly Standard)

Boehner's office responds that Biden himself, not a spokesperson, should "publicly state the new words his staff has used" and that the Obama administration should cut off U.S. taxpayer funding of the UN Population Fund:

It’s welcome news that a White House spokesman has clarified that the Vice President opposes China’s repugnant “one-child” policy, as Speaker Boehner said Monday he hoped the White House would. But now that such a clarification has been offered, the Obama administration needs to back its backpedaling with action.

There are two things the Obama administration can do immediately on this front. One is for the Vice President himself – the individual who holds the office, and who uttered the damaging comments Sunday – to publicly state the new words his staff has used. The other is for President Obama to announce the United States will stop contributing money to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), which supports China and has been linked to implementation of the one-child policy. Until the administration takes these actions, the clarification issued by the Vice President’s spokesman Tuesday will ring hollow.

The most radically pro-eugenics administration in US history will not likely make a U-turn now. The only hope is to limit the damage they do until election day in November 2012 and pray that they will be defeated decisively.