Bush would do well to restore UNFPA funds
For the fourth consecutive year, the Bush administration has decided to withhold funds for the United Nations Population Fund.
President Bush will decline to spend the appropriated funds for the program; Congress had appropriated $34 million this year. Loss of the U.S. contribution is seen as potentially crippling to the agency. The UNFPA contributes to China’s “coercive abortion” programs, the administration claims.
The defunding reinstates the administration’s so-called “global gag rule,” which bars health providers who receive American family planning assistance from counseling women about abortion or providing abortion services. China has denied using any coercive measures in its population control efforts.
The policy has been a political football for decades, originating with President Reagan and remaining in effect as long as Republicans have held the presidency, and was rescinded by President Clinton in 1993. It simply should not be treated so badly, given the good that the program is doing in poor nations around the globe.
Anika Rahman, president of Americans for UNFPA, calls the action a “morally misguided battle against the very organization that prevents maternal mortality and promotes the rights of women around the world.”
Rahman said blocked contributions ($127 million so far) “remove the moral and political weight of the United States from the organization’s work not only in China but in the other 140-plus countries where UNFPA operates,” and means the United States does not participate in the program’s successes, as well, including:
* An increase in contraceptive use worldwide from 10 percent of women to 65 percent in three decades.
* A significant reduction of maternal deaths in Bolivia, China, Egypt, Honduras, Indonesia, Jamaica, Mongolia and Zimbabwe in a single decade.
* Assistance to women in Indonesia, Sri Lanka and the Maldives in the wake of the Indian Ocean tsunami. Eighteen tons of hygiene kits, medicine and medical equipment were shipped just to Indonesia.
* In Nigeria, 545 women suffering from obstetric fistula received surgery.
* A 30 percent reduction in female genital cutting in target areas of Uganda.
The administration’s reason for continuing to withhold funds is rather puzzling because its own investigation in 2002 found no evidence of any UNFPA complicity in coercive abortions or sterilization, and, in fact, reported that the program had registered its strong opposition to such practices.
Bush has demonstrated zeal to battle for matters of principle in the teeth of fierce opposition, a trait that has often served him well with his followers.
But it may be beneficial in this case, as a letter sent by UNFPA-allied groups to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urges, to “do the right thing by the world’s women” and restore funding to the world’s top provider of family planning and maternal health needs.
President Bush will decline to spend the appropriated funds for the program; Congress had appropriated $34 million this year. Loss of the U.S. contribution is seen as potentially crippling to the agency. The UNFPA contributes to China’s “coercive abortion” programs, the administration claims.
The defunding reinstates the administration’s so-called “global gag rule,” which bars health providers who receive American family planning assistance from counseling women about abortion or providing abortion services. China has denied using any coercive measures in its population control efforts.
The policy has been a political football for decades, originating with President Reagan and remaining in effect as long as Republicans have held the presidency, and was rescinded by President Clinton in 1993. It simply should not be treated so badly, given the good that the program is doing in poor nations around the globe.
Anika Rahman, president of Americans for UNFPA, calls the action a “morally misguided battle against the very organization that prevents maternal mortality and promotes the rights of women around the world.”
Rahman said blocked contributions ($127 million so far) “remove the moral and political weight of the United States from the organization’s work not only in China but in the other 140-plus countries where UNFPA operates,” and means the United States does not participate in the program’s successes, as well, including:
* An increase in contraceptive use worldwide from 10 percent of women to 65 percent in three decades.
* A significant reduction of maternal deaths in Bolivia, China, Egypt, Honduras, Indonesia, Jamaica, Mongolia and Zimbabwe in a single decade.
* Assistance to women in Indonesia, Sri Lanka and the Maldives in the wake of the Indian Ocean tsunami. Eighteen tons of hygiene kits, medicine and medical equipment were shipped just to Indonesia.
* In Nigeria, 545 women suffering from obstetric fistula received surgery.
* A 30 percent reduction in female genital cutting in target areas of Uganda.
The administration’s reason for continuing to withhold funds is rather puzzling because its own investigation in 2002 found no evidence of any UNFPA complicity in coercive abortions or sterilization, and, in fact, reported that the program had registered its strong opposition to such practices.
Bush has demonstrated zeal to battle for matters of principle in the teeth of fierce opposition, a trait that has often served him well with his followers.
But it may be beneficial in this case, as a letter sent by UNFPA-allied groups to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urges, to “do the right thing by the world’s women” and restore funding to the world’s top provider of family planning and maternal health needs.
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