A Chinese woman in Shaanxi province who was 7 months pregnant had her baby forcibly aborted, prompting outrage and disgust on the Chinese internet.

The post, from a local web portal, was widely reposted and claimed the abortion was carried out without her family being informed.

Responding to the post, on Tuesday the population and family planning bureau of Zhenping county, where the incident happened, said that the woman, Feng Jianmei, had had her baby aborted at 15:40 CST on June 2 after being persuaded because she was breaking China’s one-child policy. Feng became a mother for the first time in January 2007, to a baby girl.

Feng’s husband Deng Jiyuan disputes the official account of events. He said on his verified Sina Weibo account on Tuesday that after 72-hours of forcible and illegal detention by over 30 family planning employees, Feng was violently forced to sign off on an agreement to the abortion on May 30. He was on his way to the hospital when the abortion was carried out.

Deng said he was unable to pay the 40,000 yuan ($6,000) fine, the so-called “social raising fee”, that would have let his wife keep her second child.

He said his wife cries everyday. “My son died in the womb, and how can I live on at ease? I don’t have money and power so I deserve to be beaten, right?”

Deng said he hasn’t gotten any explanations from any officials so far.

In China, the number of people who have babies aborted due to the family planning policy reached the top of 14.37 million in 1983, according to 2010 statistical yearbook by Ministry of Health. 7 million people have their babies aborted due to the policy ever year since 2000, while 2008 saw a peak of 9.17 million people.

Population and family planning authorities across China are pressured to meet annual population quotas from the central government, and some violate human rights to meet their targets.

“People who are familiar with the government’s work will understand that some of their workers have targets, and if they don’t achieve the targets, they won’t get the bonuses,” posted Sina Weibo microblogger user @thieve.“If you go against the one-child policy, you actually stop them from making money. The result is that they will stop you from being alive.”

Shaanxi’s population and family planning department sent a team to the city on Tuesday to investigate the incident and said in a notice on Wednesday that related authorities should rule by law.

It also said they should protect the lawful rights of fertile women and the induced labor of a woman close to pregnancy is forbidden.

China introduced the one-child policy three decades ago to control the large population, but in recent years the nation’s falling fertility rate has prompted concerns that the country will age before it gets rich. Some academics are calling on the government to allow more couples to have a second child. The one-child rule has certain exceptions.

According to a United Nations report, more than 30 percent of China's population is expected to be aged 60 or older in 2050, making it one of the fastest-growing aging population nations in the world.