Chinese woman dodges jail sentence by getting pregnant 3 times in just 4 years

A woman in China, who was convicted of fraud, has drawn widespread attention for her innovative way to avoid a sentence. The woman, known by the pseudonym Chen Hong, was sentenced to 5 years' imprisonment in December 2020 in Central China's Shanxi province. However, she managed to evade prison by exploiting a legal provision.

China has provisions for people suffering from serious illness, pregnancy or nursing a baby to stay outside of prison. They were made to serve in a community correction home, or hospital, or their own homes under supervision. Taking advantage of that loophole, the woman conceived 3 times in 4 years with the same man, whom she had divorced earlier. Thus successfully postponed her sentence and avoided a single day in jail.

The convicts are subjected to examination and submit pregnancy reports every three months. During one inspection in May, the procurator discovered that Chen had delivered her third child and had not lived with the baby. It was legally registered to her sister in laws house. On investigation, it was revealed that she had given away two of her previous sons to her ex-husband. She was later sent back to a detention centre to serve the remaining one year of her sentence.

The incident has sparked heated debate; many questioned how such an obvious evasion could continue unchecked for years.

“I was more shocked that she could get pregnant when she wanted,” said one observer as reported by the South China Morning Post.

“I pity the three children who were born only because their mother wanted to escape prison,” said another observer.

Chen is not the only person to use pregnancy to avoid imprisonment. In 2015, one woman was caught getting pregnant 15 times in 10 years, in Xinjiang Autonomous Region. Legal experts in China have also called for reforms to ensure that such loopholes are not exploited again, emphasising that justice must not be undermined by repeated deferrals. Some prosecutors suggested suspending the sentence instead of calculating time d