LIMA, February 2, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com/pop.org/cwnews.com) - The Population Research Institute and Catholic World News have both reported today that the U.S. Agency for International Development (Catalyst Project) funded an October, 2003 event aimed at the promotion of legalization of surgical abortion there.
A letter from 10 members of the Peruvian congress addressed to Andrew Natsios, administrator of USAID, expressed concern over the USAID sponsorship of an event aimed at promoting a new proposed law, Bill 7869. In the letter, the members highlight sections of the proposed bill which states that “reproductive health should include measures to promote…abortion…” and that “legal barriers to reproductive health include laws prohibiting abortion,” and that “reproductive health services such as abortion can only be put into practice when they are carried out in properly equipped facilities that are authorized to perform these procedures.” Conference speakers are said to have lamented that the illegality of abortion was a “social problem.”“The funding of this conference, and of organizations that are pushing for abortion on demand in Peru, is a blatant violation of U.S. law,” said Population Research Institute president Steve Mosher.
The US pulled all funding from the UN Population Fund for its participation in China’s coercive abortion policy, which under the U.S. Kemp-Kasten amendment, forbids funding for any organization which promotes coercive abortion or forced sterilization. The funds slated for UNFPA were redirected to USAID. In prior, related coverage, LifeSiteNews.com reported on USAID’s support for forced sterilization in Peru. Read the report at: http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2000/mar/00031602.html Also read the LifeSiteNews.com report “White House Transfers UNFPA Funding to USAID” at: http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2002/jul/02072305.html