WASHINGTON, December 19, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A short-term spending bill passed by Congress to avert government shutdown includes minor cuts to family planning funding and a United Nations office known to support China’s coercive one-child policy.
H.R. 3671, a consolidated appropriations bill for several agencies, contains $35 million for the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), $5 million less than last year. In 2002, private and federal investigations confirmed UNFPA’s complicity in forced abortion and sterilization in China, causing the Bush administration to end all foreign aid to the group. The Obama administration restored UNFPA funding in 2009.
Other international population control spending, set at “not less than” $575 million, remains steady from last year.
However, Title X funding for domestic family planning, a source of funding for Planned Parenthood, has been reduced by $2 million from last year to $297 million.
Earlier this year, House Republicans led by Speaker John Boehner lost a protracted battle to pass a spending bill that cut both Title X and UNFPA funds completely. That bill would have also restored the Mexico City Policy, barring funds to all overseas groups that perform or promote abortions.