Tuesday January 29, 2002

BIPARTISAN COALITION ASKS BUSH TO HALT UNFPA FUNDS

WASHINGTON, January 29, 2002 (LSN.ca) - A bipartisan group of House members plan to send President George W. Bush a letter later this week demanding a halt to the $34 million in funding slated for the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). "By operating in China, spending money there, and defending the Chinese population control system, the UNFPA clearly supports a program of coercive abortion and involuntary sterilization," says the letter currently signed by six Republicans and three Democrats. Moreover, the Washington Times reports that House GOP leaders are drafting a similar letter to send to the White House.

At a press conference last week, Chinese immigrant Ma Dong Fang told the tragic story of how she was forced by the Chinese government to have an abortion after she became pregnant with her second child in 1991. She related that after the abortion she was given an IUD without her knowledge and then forced to have Norplant implanted before she fled China. "There are a million stories like mine in China, and a million women who wish to escape the one-child policy," she said.

Given the growing mountain of evidence showing the UNFPA support for China's coercive abortion program, the president has little choice but to deny the group funds. Since 1985, the foreign operations bill has included language prohibiting funds for any organization that "supports or participates in the management of a program of coercive abortion or involuntary sterilization." The Times notes that President Reagan denied federal funds for UNFPA based on that prohibition, as did Mr. Bush's father. UNFPA funding was reinstated under President Clinton.

For more see the Washington Times coverage at:
http://www.washtimes.com/national/20020129-4094726.htm

URL: http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2002/jan/02012904.html

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