Beijing, September 7

A public outcry has been raised over the plight of a woman who’s considering an illegal abortion at eight months because the child would violate China’s restrictive birth policy and would cost her husband his job.

Members of the public have been phoning local officials in the couple’s Yunnan province community to inquire about the case, and an online travel service reportedly has offered the husband a position if he loses his police job.

The case has rekindled debate over whether employment in the public sector should be used to enforce the policy that limits urban couples to one child in cases where both husband and wife have at least one sibling.

The woman, 41, who spoke on condition that she be identified only by her surname, Chen, said in a phone interview today that the couple felt under pressure to abort their second child to keep her husband’s job with local police.

“I’m fearful,” Chen said. “If my husband believes I must abort the child, there’s nothing I can do.” She also grew uneasy about the public attention her case was drawing. “I am worried he would lose his job even after we lose the baby, if the situation gets messy.” Chen said the couple had hoped for a policy change that would allow them to have a second child but found her unexpectedly pregnant earlier this year in violation of the rule.

Wen Xueping, a family planning official in Yunnan’s Chuxiong prefecture, said the couple would not be forced to abort the baby but had been warned of the consequences of having it. Couples who violate the child policy face hefty fines and — if they have government jobs — face being sacked.