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A Chinese woman who repeatedly became pregnant to avoid imprisonment has now been sentenced. Identified by the pseudonym Chen Hong, the woman received a five-year prison term for fraud in December 2020 in Shanxi province, local media reported, as cited by South China Morning Post.Chen repeatedly became pregnant, having three children with the same man over four years, reportedly in an attempt to avoid serving her prison sentence. When confronted with the evidence, she admitted she was already divorced.In China, inmates who are seriously ill, pregnant or nursing, or are unable to care for themselves may be temporarily allowed to serve their sentences outside prison.During this period, they are placed under community correction, either at hospitals or in their own homes, and are supervised by their local correctional institutions, typically run by prisons and public security authorities.The local prosecutors conduct regular inspections to oversee such arrangements. During one such inspection in May, officials found that Chen, who recently gave birth to her third child, was not living with her baby.They also discovered that the child’s household registration was listed under Chen’s sister-in-law, making the baby legally her sister-in-law’s child.Her first two children were living with her ex-husband, while her third child was living with his sister. With less than a year remaining on her sentence, Chen was returned to the detention center rather than a prison to serve the rest of her term.“I was more shocked that she could get pregnant when she wanted,” a social media user commented.“I pity the three children who were born only because their mother wanted to escape prison,” said another.Some prosecutors have proposed that in cases where convicts repeatedly become pregnant, the legal system should suspend their sentence instead of continuing to count prison time.“This approach would also help protect the rights of their unborn children,” prosecutors from Yancheng in Jiangsu province wrote in an article, as cited by South China Morning Post.This is not the first case of its kind. A Chinese woman reportedly evaded prison for a decade by becoming pregnant 13 times. The woman, who was 29 at the time, was convicted of corruption and sentenced to life in prison in 2005a, as reported by People’s Daily Online.
