Golden Venture

by Gene Shelburne

I want to tell you a horror story. Dr. James Dobson says it reminds him of the infamous occasion in 1939 when a shipful of desperate Jews fleeing Nazi threats were denied entry to American shores.

The U.S. Congressional Record tells the shameful story of the ill treatment 180 Chinese women received when they sailed to America more than 50 years later to escape government-mandated abortions in their homeland.

Boarding a ship known as the Golden Venture in May, 1993, these frightened women sailed halfway around the world to seek asylum in the U.S., knowing that our official immigration policies had long extended shelter for those facing forced abortions.

On June 6, 1993, the Golden Venture ran aground in the harbor not far from the Statue of Liberty with her engraved guarantee of freedom for all oppressed. Instead of finding liberty on our shores, however, these disillusioned women wound up in jail.

Targeted by an administration that favors population control programs worldwide, these women were imprisoned and the immigration policy of our nation was reversed. Although none of these women is guilty of a crime, all but 15 had long stays in various jails across the land.

The fortunate 15 were promised asylum in Quito, Ecuador, distressingly in this case a more humanitarian place than the U.S. turned out to be, but our State Department denied them permission to leave on their June 23, 1995, departure date.

On April 20, 1995, U.S. Reps. Christopher Smith (R-N.J.) and Henry Hyde (R-Ill.) wrote an Open Letter to the U.S. Congress, pleading in its title, “Please Oppose the Forced Repatriation of Forced Abortion Victims to China.” To date, their efforts to win a hearing for this boatload of Chinese mothers have been stonewalled by an administration adamantly committed to a pro-abortion agenda.

The next time a politician tells you his personal moral views will not affect public policy, remember the tragic ladies of the Golden Venture, who are being treated as criminals solely because they violate the pro- abortion sentiments of those in power.