As Friday marked the 31st anniversary of China's One-Child Policy, UF students rallied in Turlington Plaza to spread awareness of the gendercide of 37 million girls.
"With the One-Child policy restricting families to one child each, there is so much pressure from women's families for their one child to be a son," said Sarah Hill, director of development for All Girls Allowed.
All Girls Allowed, a nonprofit organization, seeks to expose the truth about the One-Child Policy, rescue girls from abandonment and abuse, and celebrate the life of females in China.
The group, along with sponsor UF Pro-Life Alliance, is leading the local campaign.
The international campaign, titled "37 Seconds," is running in six countries and has a presence at more than 150 colleges in the United States.
According to Jean Morrow, a political science graduate student, in Chinese culture it's more prestigious for families to have boys than to have girls.
About 300,000 officials and 92 million members of the National Population and Family Planning Commission of China enforce the policy. Punishments for illegally having a child include forced sterilization, imprisonment of relatives, job loss and monetary fines.
The China Democracy Promotion Act, or H.R. 2121, will be sent to President Obama and Congress, encouraging China to end the policy. Brianne Umhoefer, co-president of the UF Pro-Life Alliance, said the main goal of Friday's rally was to get people to support the cause and end China's policy.
"I just can't imagine someone giving me that ultimatum: get rid of your child or I'm going to imprison your family," she said. "It's a huge injustice and it needs to be ended."
For more information, visit allgirlsallowed.org/sign-petition.
Chinese major senior Andrew Salcedo flips through the memoir of Chai Ling, the founder of All Girls Allowed on Turlington Plaza Friday.
