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Bush Administration Withholds $34M for UNFPA; Group's Work in China Cited
(Kaisernetwork) The Bush administration on Friday said that for the third consecutive year it would withhold $34 million in funding for the United Nations Population Fund, saying that because the organization works in China it supports the Chinese government's policy of coerced abortions to maintain a goal of one child per family, the Los Angeles Times reports (Richter, Los Angeles Times, 7/17).
The Bush administration in its decision cited the Kemp-Kasten law, which requires funding to be blocked for agencies if the president determines that a group "supports or participates in the management of a program of coercive abortion or involuntary sterilization," according to the New York Times. UNFPA has spent approximately $3.5 million in the past year for a pilot program in China to educate Chinese women about HIV transmission and contraception, according to the Times (Marquis, New York Times, 7/17).
History of Blocked Funding
Bush has blocked funding to UNFPA every year since he has taken office. The administration's current policy -- originally implemented by President Reagan at a population conference in Mexico City in 1984, removed by President Clinton and reinstated by Bush during the first days of his presidency -- bars U.S. money from international groups that support abortion, even with their own money, through direct services, counseling or lobbying activities. Bush in September 2003 issued an executive order that prevents the State Department from giving family planning grants to international groups that provide abortion-related counseling, effectively extending the so-called "Mexico City" policy, which previously applied only to USAID. The Senate in January approved 65-28 an omnibus spending bill (HR 2673) -- approved by the House in December 2003 -- which included $34 million for UNFPA. UNFPA officials have said that the $34 million could be used to prevent two million unintended pregnancies and approximately 800,000 abortions (Kaiser Daily Reproductive Health Report, 7/12).
State Department Response
Secretary of State Colin Powell in a letter to Congress said that the Bush administration will support women and children throughout the world through other programs, according to the AP/Washington Post (Schweid, AP/Washington Post, 7/17).
According to a State Department release, "The United States recognizes that [UNFPA] intends to promote a transition to a voluntary family planning program in China," adding, "We are prepared to consider funding [UNFPA] in the future if its program in China is restructured in a way consistent with U.S. law, or if China ends its program of coerced abortion" (State Department release, 7/16).
Support
Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.) praised the Bush administration's decision, saying that UNFPA "continues to be guilty of shamelessly supporting and whitewashing terrible crimes against humanity" (AP/Washington Post, 7/17).
Wendy Wright, an official with Concerned Women for America, said, "The (fund's) assistance of coercive family-planning programs obviously contradicts its claims to promote women's reproductive rights. What could be a greater violation of a woman's rights than a forced abortion" (Los Angeles Times, 7/17).
Opposition
Ahmed Obaid, UNFPA's executive director, said, "The United States contribution could have saved thousands of lives" (Agence France-Presse, 7/16).
Gloria Feldt, president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said in a statement that the Bush administration's decision "is clearly based on politics, not public health" (Detroit Free Press, 7/17).
Carmen Barroso, director of International Planned Parenthood Federation's Western Hemisphere Region, said that her group is "profoundly disappointed" with Bush's decision, adding that Bush has decided to "put pandering to his conservative 'base' before the thousands of lives that could be saved in some of the world's poorest countries by access to family planning services" (IPPF release, 7/16).
Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) said that the decision represents the "worst of extremist, election-year politics," adding, "They know full well that this decision will result in more abortions, not fewer ... and it will only weaken (the UNFPA's) efforts to end coercion in China" (Los Angeles Times, 7/17).
(c) 2004 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation
Source: Kaisernetwork
Publish Date: July 19, 2004
Online at: http://ifrl.org/IFRLDailyNews/040719/2
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