UNFPA in the News: Week of January 18-24, 2003

UNITED STATES: U.S. Announces Intentions for $34 Million Initially for Marked for UNFPA for Afghan Aid According to a January 22 story by Agence France Presse, "The United States has diverted 34 million dollars withdrawn from the UN population fund over claims that forced abortions take place in areas of China in which the organization operates, to projects in Afghanistan and Pakistan." These funds were originally allocated to (UN population fund, known as UNFPA) but were transferred by the president to the Child Survival and Health Program Fund," said Brenda Greenberg, a State Department spokeswoman. Secretary of State Colin Powell "determined that China's national program of birth limitation laws and practices was a 'program of coercive abortion' and that UNFPA's financial and other assistance to this Chinese program contravened US law governing contributions to UN organizations," she said.

[EDITOR'S NOTE: Although the U.S. State Department has announced its intention to reprogram this money, it's our understanding that Congress has put this transfer of funds on hold.]

UNITED STATES AND UGANDA: Bush Administration Promoting Uganda Education Program as a Good Example of Teaching Abstinence
National Public Radio's Morning Edition featured a January 21 segment on the Bush administration's promotion of abstinence education in Uganda as a good example of how abstinence lowered its HIV rate of 30 percent to 5 percent in a decade. Claude Allen of the Department of Health and Human Services is the Bush administration's point man for the promotion of abstinence education programs, a mission that was reinforced by trips to Uganda last year. During the segment, Alan Guttmacher Institute's Susan Cohen said, "The purpose of the trip, quote, 'was to better understand the role of abstinence education in the battle against HIV/AIDS.' Now I think it's significant that the HHS team did not go over there to look at what were the factors that contributed to the turnaround in HIV rates in Uganda. They're only looking at the role of abstinence. Cohen also stressed that this is strategy that conservatives have adopted since Bush became president. NPR's Brenda Wilson noted, "In Congress, they have cut the funding for the United Nations Population Fund and challenged the funding of international family planning organizations that conduct AIDS research in brothels and among commercial sex workers." Listen: NPR's Morning Edition

UNITED STATES: Goodman Column on U.S. at Bangkok, A Warning for Roe v. Wade
"There was a moment last month when the Bush administration overturned Roe vs. Wade. You may not have noticed because it happened in Bangkok -- out of sight, out of media mind," wrote Ellen Goodman in her January 19 column in The Boston Globe. Our government went there to try to deep-six a U.N. agreement on family planning. One of our delegates promoted abstinence-only education. Another warned of the risks of condoms. A third shared her personal success story using the rhythm method. Then Assistant Secretary of State Gene Dewey took the podium. He said to the assembled: "The United States supports the sanctity of life from conception to natural death." Read: The Boston Globe

UNITED STATES: Articles Reporting on U.S. Funding for UNFPA During 30th Anniversary of Roe v. Wade
In the Knight Ridder's January 23 story marking the 30th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, it mentioned, "[President] Bush has made his greatest abortion-related splash in other countries by eliminating millions of dollars to the United Nations Population Fund and cutting off money to foreign groups that support, promote or counsel women on abortion. The political risk is minuscule since American voters are not personally affected by those policy changes. Read: Knight Ridder (Reprinted in: Biloxi Sun Herald (MS), Philadelphia Inquirer (PA) and Miami Herald (FL)

The Gannett News Service January 21 story mentioned that in July, [the Bush] administration announced it was withholding the United States' entire $34 million contribution to the United Nations Population Fund. The decision was based on the family planning services the group provides, even though those services do not include abortion.

A January 20 article by Women's Enews noted, "Since taking office, Bush has withdrawn $34 million in congressionally allotted aid to the United Nations Population Fund, frozen $3 million for the World Health Organization's reproductive health program, and used U.N. conferences to push a pro-life agenda." Read: Women's Enews

Also see Time magazine's January 27 story, "Under the Radar."

UNITED STATES: Letters and Op Eds Support U.S. Funding for UNFPA During 30th Anniversary of Roe v. Wade
The Idaho Statesman ran a January 22 letter by Rebecca L. Poedy, President and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Idaho, wrote, "On the 30th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, far more is at risk than abortion. By denying women their reproductive rights, George W. Bush is writing the book on repression of women. Soon after he had been installed as president, he reinstated the global gag rule; he named staunchly anti-choice Sen. John Ashcroft as attorney general; he eliminated funding for the United Nations Population Fund and tripled funds for harmful abstinence-only sexuality education.

Rochester Democrat and Chronicle (NY) ran a January 22 op ed by Carol Love, President and CEO, Planned Parenthood of Rochester/Syracuse, that said, "On President Bush's first day in office he instituted the "global gag rule'' forcing family planning programs in other countries to choose between receiving aid and being able to discuss abortion with patients. Note: It was already illegal to use U.S. aid for abortion services. The administration has since frozen funding for World Health Organization and United Nations Population Fund programs."

The Boston Globe (MA) featured a January 21 op ed by Dianne Luby, President and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Massachusetts that mentioned, " [President Bush] sacrificed vital health care policy in an attempt to attribute personhood to a fetus, even going so far as to provide fetuses with health insurance instead of providing pregnant women with pre-natal care. On the international front, he eliminated funding from the UNFPA, the largest multilateral family planning association providing family planning services to more than 150 countries." Read: The Boston Globe

A January 19 op ed in The Seattle Post-Intelligencer (WA) by Christine R. Charbonneau, President and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Western Washington and Roberta Riley, legal counsel of PPWW mentioned, "[Bush] froze millions of dollars that had been earmarked for vital AIDS prevention and basic health care programs sponsored by the World Health Organization and the United Nations Population Fund."

A January 21 op ed in The Times Union (NY) by Patricia A. Mcgeown, President of Planned Parenthood of Upper Hudson, stated, "Within months, Bush eliminated funding for the United Nations Population Fund. Perhaps most alarming, he has tripled federal funding (to $135 million) for 'abstinence-only' education, a form of sex education that requires teachers to present abstinence until marriage as the only form of pregnancy prevention, and prohibits them from talking about -- or even answering questions about -- contraception, except to say that it fails."

UNITED STATES: Australian Column Says Bush Should Fund UNFPA
In his January 20 column, Greg Barns of Australia's Mercury, wrote, " Music to the ears of the US Catholic Conference and its aid arm, the Catholic Relief Services, which told a Congressional committee in 2001 it believed US funding should be denied to agencies such as the UN Population Fund if they supported programs using coerced abortion or involuntary sterilization [and] it should remain clear, as well, that the US would not back programs that supported abortion as a method of family planning in developing nations." Barns also expressed his frustration: "Bush justified his cruel decision on the fact that China would use the funds for coercive abortion and forced sterilization, despite his own fact-finding mission turning up no evidence that the UN had ever participated in such programs."

UNITED STATES: Battlefronts of U.S. Abortion Debate
The Associated Press' January 18 story listed international family planning among the battlefronts of the U.S. abortion debate, "President Bush has withheld $34 million from the U.N. Population Fund, which he says tolerates abortions in China."

UNITED STATES: Op Ed by Jane Roberts on 34 Million Friends Campaign
"Would you believe over $250,000 has been sent in, one donation at a time, to the United Nations Population Fund?" wrote Jane Roberts, co-founder of 34 Million Friends Campaign, in the latest issue of The Highlander, campus paper of the University of California at Riverside. " This is the result of a five month idealistic grassroots campaign started by two women in their sixties. Why? Because the Bush administration canceled the entire $34 million approved by the U.S. Congress for UNFPA shortly after he took office nearly two years ago."

UNITED STATES: Letters Responding to Ellen Goodman's Column on the 34 Million Friends Campaign
The Sun Sentinel (FL) ran a January 21 letter by reader, Mary Kugler, that noted, "Not only does Ellen Goodman's sensible approach to problems help to put complicated issues in perspective, but she raises awareness by sharing the wonderful ideas of others. I refer especially to her Dec. 28 column, '34 million friends respond.' The Bush administration's refusal to help in other countries by reneging on funds for the United Nations Population Fund shows a lack of understanding of the real road to peaceful coexistence with other countries.

In her January 23 letter to The Fort Worth Star-Telegram (TX), reader, Shirley Swallow wrote, "How wonderful that you ran Ellen Goodman's Dec. 25 column, 'A low price for foreign policy,' about two women in New York who were outraged by the Bush administration's decision to deny funds to the United Nations Population Fund."

Reader, Wayne Lowman's January 20 letter in The News & Record (NC) criticized Ellen Goodman's column ("34 million friends unite," Dec. 22) as having "made the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) out to be a worthy charity while portraying President Bush as scrooge for withholding $34 million from UNFPA for participating in China's one-child program of forced abortion and sterilization." He went on to mention, "In 1987 it went on record as being openly pro-abortion. Actually, the UNFPA has been in bed with Planned Parenthood since the 1960s. Planned Parenthood is the world's largest abortion provider. President Bush's decision was based on evidence presented at a hearing of the House Committee on International Relations. UNFPA's China family planning program is not voluntary. Forced abortion, forced sterilization, destruction of homes and property, fines and imprisonment are punishment for noncompliance. President Bush had no choice but to terminate funding because of the Kemp-Kasten Amendment, which prohibits U.S. funds from groups that support forced abortion and forced sterilization. The evidence is conclusive, yet UNFPA continues to claim that women are free to choose. The Bush administration acted in defense of women in China. The pain and suffering being forced on helpless women continues due to the population control activities of UNFPA. Citizens need accurate information, not media spin."

PACIFIC REGION: Pacific Countries 'Poorly Equipped' for Fight against AIDS
According to a January 21 story by The New Zealand Herald, Pacific Island countries face critical shortages of condoms that could threaten the region's status as one of the least affected by HIV/AIDS. The shortages of contraceptives have been made worse by a United States funding cut, says the United Nations Population Fund's Pacific representative, Catherine Shevlin Pierce. "The US withdrawal of its [$34 million] contribution has affected all our programs and is compromising the reproductive health of women and men throughout developing countries," said Shevlin Pierce. China's Xinhua General News Service and New Zealand's Daily News, Dominion Post, The Press and The Evening Standard also covered the story.

PAKISTAN: UNFPA-Assisted Projects on Aging
At a recent session of the Ministry Women Development, Social Welfare and Special Education and the Interagency Gender and Development Group in Pakistan, Joint Secretary of the Ministry Mr. Shaukat Nawaz apprised the participants of the UNFPA assisted project for the aging population.

BANGLADESH: Improving Child and Maternal Health
United News of Bangladesh reported January 22 that the Institute of Child and Maternal Health (ICMH) will be turned into a self-reliant organization, according to Health Minister Dr. Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain. The minister said ICMH could be used as the venue of international training and workshops of WHO, UNICEF, UNFPA and other organizations to raise its income.

GAMBIA: SWOP Report Released
The Daily Observer reported January 22 that the speaker of the National Assembly, Sheriff Mustapha Dibba, formally launched the UNFPA 2003 World Population Report at Kairaba Hotel. "The fact that the 2002 report focuses on poverty is quite timely and relevant as poverty alleviation in Gambia is increasingly recognized as a corner stone for socio-economic development and progress," she said. Read: The Daily Observer

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