Politics
Monday October 6, 2008
US Government Cuts Off Supplies to Marie Stopes International
TODAY'S HEADLINES
E-MAIL
PRINT
By Samantha Singson
NEW YORK, NY, October 6, 2008 (C-FAM) - According to news reports, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has issued a new directive requiring several African countries to stop providing United States-funded contraceptives to Marie Stopes International (MSI), one of the world's leading abortion providers.
USAID decided to take action and pull support for MSI in Africa because of the organization's collaboration with China's draconian population program.
Under US law, any organization that "supports or participates in the management of a program of coercive abortion or involuntary sterilization" is prohibited from receiving American foreign aid. This law, also known as the Kemp-Kasten amendment, has been used since 2002 to deny funding to United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).
The possibility that other complicit groups would also be affected was hinted at by the US State Department a few weeks ago when it once more withheld funds from UNFPA.
The US government informed Ghana, Malawi, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe that it did not want any USAID-funded contraceptives to be provided to Marie Stopes International.
The AP reports that the US does not give any direct assistance to MSI, but that the organization is a leading family planning health provider in Africa and one of several distributors of US-donated contraceptive commodities, like condoms and intrauterine devices.
MSI chief executive Dana Hovig denied the allegations of cooperating with forced abortions in China, stating, "To the contrary, MSI is one of the few organizations that has worked over the past decade to increase the availability of voluntary, client-centered family planning services in China." He blasted the USAID decision as "purely political and dangerous to the lives of women."
The US State Department and USAID have said that the directive only affects MSI and that the same amount of US-donated contraceptives would be distributed in the African nations by other groups.
Marie Stopes has been a long-time advocate for abortion rights worldwide. For the past year, MSI has been collecting signatures for their "Global Safe Abortion" campaign which demands "for women's access to legal, safe abortion to be recognized as a fundamental human right." Pro-life initiatives to counter MSI's campaign have also been launched.
This article is reprinted with permission from: http://www.c-fam.org
Back to TopLatest Headlines
- BREAKING: US Congress Passes Health Care Reform Bill 220 to 215
- Stupak Amendment to Health Care Bill Passes 240 - 194 Saturday Evening
- Major Health Care Development - Pro-Life Stupak Amendment Vote OK'd for Today
- NY Times: Dems Banking on Later Squeezing Pro-Life Language Out of Bill in Committee
- USCCB Spokesman: "Definitely Not True" that Bishops Support Bill As it Stands
- TIME Got it Wrong - Prof. George Opposed Grandiose Kennedy Funeral
- USCCB Condemnation Tears Facade off "Phony" Abortion Compromise for Health Bill
- Health Care Bill Includes Monthly Abortion Premium: House Minority Leader Boehner
- TIME Article Setting Burke Against O'Malley Called "Tactical strike" on Behalf of Catholic Left
- Dirty Fighting on Abortion Funding: Word-Games and Health-Care Theatrics Boggle the Mind
- Commentary on November 6 News
- Note to LifeSiteNews Subscribers with Rogers email addresses
- New York Gov. Declares Nov. 10 Extraordinary Legislative Session for Same-Sex "Marriage"
- Washington's Pro-Family Amendment Effort Defeated - R-71 Almost Certain to Pass
- Vote Pushed Back on Canadian Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide Bill to Dec. 2
- Elderly U.K. Couple in Good Health Commit Suicide, Complain of Assisted Suicide Law
- Texas Late-Term Abortionist and Baptist Minister Admits: "Am I killing? Yes, I am"
- New Evidence Contradicts CCHD's Findings on Accused Pro-Abortion Partner
- Quebec Priest Denies Possibility of Sexual Reorientation Therapy on TV
- New Hampshire Same-Sex "Marriage" Law in Crosshairs after Maine's Law Crumbles
- Brooklyn Bishop Criticized for Recorded Message Praising Pro-Abortion Politician
- First Group of "Traditionalist" Anglicans in Britain Votes to Enter Catholic Church
Most Read this Week
- Planned Parenthood Director Resigns after Watching Ultrasound of Abortion Procedure
- Breaking: Dominican Community Apologizes for Nun Caught Acting as Abortion Escort
- Nun Defiant Following Rebuke, but Stops Abortion Escorting
- Over 200 Christendom College Students Protest Abortion at Planned Parenthood Clinic
- TIME Article Setting Burke Against O'Malley Called "Tactical strike" on Behalf of Catholics Left
- Scottish Gay Rights Activists Found Guilty of Pedophilia Sentenced to Life Imprisonment
- Newly Identified Corporate Supporters of Planned Parenthood Named
- Health Care Bill Includes Monthly Abortion Premium: House Minority Leader Boehner
- Canadian MP Launches Petition to Stop Federal Funding of Planned Parenthood
- Planned Parenthood's President Lashes Out at USCCB
MORE NEWS: 
LifeSiteNews.com Home Page Last 10 Days Archives Special Reports
Copyright © LifeSiteNews.com. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivatives License. You may republish this article or portions of it without request provided the content is not altered and it is clearly attributed to "LifeSiteNews.com". Any website publishing of complete or large portions of original LifeSiteNews articles MUST additionally include a live link to www.LifeSiteNews.com. The link is not required for excerpts. Republishing of articles on LifeSiteNews.com from other sources as noted is subject to the conditions of those sources.