WASHINGTON, December 20, 2001 (LSN.ca) – A compromise measure in a massive $15.3 billion foreign aid bill will see President George Bush deciding on funding for the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), one of the most notorious abortion promoting agencies in the world. While the bill suggests funding for UNFPA at $34 million – $9 million over last year – the amount is a ceiling, leaving Bush the opportunity to zero-fund the organization.
The Population Research Institute (PRI), which recently presented to Congress the results of an investigation into UNFPA’s complicity with China’s coercive one-child policy, said “President Bush has been handed the perfect opportunity to oppose forced abortion and forced sterilization in China.” PRI President Steven W. Mosher said, “He should defund the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) because of its support of these and other human rights abuses in China.” In September, PRI obtained first-hand evidence from victims of forced abortion and forced sterilization in a UNFPA county program in China. In an attempt to secure funding, UNFPA denied that such abuses take place. But videotaped evidence of abuses in a UNFPA county program in China has been delivered by PRI to the White House.
New Jersey Republican Rep. Chris Smith commented on the passage of the measure saying, “It needs to be fully understood that the ball is in the president’s court now, our hope is that the president will look at the sordid complicity of the UNFPA with the Chinese population-control police.”
Family Research Council President Ken Connor urged President Bush to zero out funding to the UNFPA and called for an investigation into the organization’s activities in China. “After eight years of pro-abortion policies under Clinton, President Bush has the opportunity to put a halt to the funding of coercive abortion policies in countries like China,” Ken Connor said. “The UNFPA is not being honest about its involvement. There is ample evidence of their cooperation with and approval of China’s one-child policy. Any financial support of this organization is an end-run around the president’s Mexico City Policy and a violation of the spirit of the law.”
See the coverage in the Washington Times: https://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20011220-545751.htm