Birdsong's Law Blog

Daniel Burgess was a student in Professor Birdsong’s  Refugee and Asylum course last spring.  He has written an interesting paper that derives from his examination  and research  concerning China’s one child policy.  Mr. Burgess addresses the issue of whether an unborn child should be granted asylum. There is an ongoing debate about whether a fetus is a person.  Why not read it and learn something.  Mr. Burgess is a good creative writer and thinker.

Life, or Something Like It

A Reflection on China’s One-Child Policy and its Effects on the Unborn

Daniel W. Burgess, Jr.

April 22, 2010

 Introduction

 “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses…” and your unborn. [1] There are many unfortunate individuals living in parts of the world who are “yearning to breathe free” from persecution. But there is a persecuted class that is yearning for a chance to breathe its first natural breath: the unborn. Worldwide, laws tend to view the unborn as merely a fetus and not as a human life. They do not share the same rights as a viable human living outside his or her mother’s womb. They are viewed as less than human by the laws of man. 

This paper addresses whether an unborn child should be granted asylum. There is an ongoing debate about whether a fetus is a person. The pro-choice camp would argue that a fetus is not afforded the protection of law until it is a viable life, while those in the pro-life camp would argue that a fetus is a person from the moment of conception. The reality is that until a fetus is universally recognized as a person, an unborn child will continue to be the subject of a form of persecution that strips their life away before they were ever given the chance to live it.

This author initially became interested in immigration and refugee law while visiting Hope Community Center in Apopka, Florida, during the summer of 2009. I was enrolled in a social justice seminar that was discussing immigration reform. Hope Community Center is run by the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, a Roman Catholic religious order. In 2009, the Sisters were named Orange County’s Citizen’s of the Year for their work with the poor and migrant community in Central Florida. Their mission is to strengthen and support the working poor and immigrant communities of Central Florida through faith, advocacy, education, leadership and economic development programs. [2]

During my visit, I was able to meet with many immigrants who came to the United States to escape the horrible living conditions of their homeland in search of a better

Birdsong’s Refugee and Asylum Law students might wish to read the story of three children from Honduras who were recently granted asylum in the U.S. on the ground that their persecution was was based upon child sex and physical abuse.  They were found to be a “particular social group”  It will be interesting to see whether this decision is allowed to stand if the government appeals to the BIA.  Birdsong believes that the decision should stand:

NY judge cites abuse, OKs Honduran kids’ asylum

By FRANK ELTMAN | Associated Press Writer

September 12, 2008

Birdsong has lived in Africa.  Birdsong has represented many people seeking asylum in the United States.  Birdsong now teaches his immigration law students that the fear of female circumcision, often referred to as “female genital mutilation,” is a ground upon which women can obtain asylum in the United States.

Until today Birdsong did not know the number of women subjected to female gential mutilation (FGM). The Associated Press reports on August 4, 2008, that “Seventy million girls and women