The federal appellate court in Manhattan is taking an unusually close look at American immigration policy toward asylum seekers from China who claim they were persecuted under the country’s family planning practices.

The entire 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals met together yesterday to hear oral arguments in several asylum cases involving men whose spouses or girlfriends were forcibly sterilized or made to have an abortion. The cases raised the question of whether husbands and boyfriends were eligible to receive asylum from Chinese family planning laws, though no operations were forced on them.

Currently dozens of Chinese asylum cases before the 2nd Circuit involve family planning. Although the court ordinarily hears cases in panels of three judges, 12 judges took part in yesterday’s hearing, indicating the court’s interest in deciding the case.

Taken together, the comments from the bench suggested that the court is skeptical of broadly offering asylum to men whose partners suffered under the family planning practices.

One judge, Reena Raggi, told a government lawyer that there were policy implications in extending the right to make asylum claims to any husband who could show that his wife was sterilized. Under such a policy, a husband could conceivably get asylum after coming to America alone, after leaving his sterilized wife back in China.

“One of the underlying concerns is what you’ve encouraged is a family abandonment policy,” Judge Raggi said.

The Supreme Court is now being asked to hear a similar case involving asylum seekers from China.