Ellington

Yesterday, Mississippi Republican Sen. Roger Wicker announced in a release that he has introduced an amendment to bar U.S. funds from the United Nations Population Fund. The Obama administration's $410 billion omnibus budget apportions $50 million to UNFPA, which promotes "the right of every woman, man and child to enjoy a life of health and equal opportunity," according to its mission statement.

In support of his amendment, Wicker says that UNFPA "supports China's immoral one-child policy and coercive abortion and sterilization practice." That support, he says, specifically bars the organization from receiving U.S. funds under the Kemp-Kasten amendment.

Enacted in 1984 under the Reagan administration, Kemp-Kasten "contained the first legislative restriction denying funding to countries or organizations that supported involuntary abortion."

In 2002, the U.S. Justice Department investigated UNFPA activities in the Peoples Republic of China and concluded unequivocally in its report that: "We find no evidence that UNFPA has knowingly supported or participated in the management of a program of coercive abortion or involuntary sterilization in the PRC." The same report recommended releasing the $34 million in funding appropriated for the agency that year, although the administration redirected the funds to another agency. The DOJ findings were consistent with an earlier analysis from the U.S. Agency for International Development.

Since its passage, Congress has successfully used Kemp-Kasten several times to deny all U.S. funding to UNFPA, or to restrict UNFPA from using U.S. funds in its China programs, despite the organization's protests that it does not support or promote abortion anywhere in the world.

Wicker's statement acknowledges neither the organization's stance nor the U.S. Justice Department analysis, instead repeating rhetoric from pro-life groups such as LifeNews.com.

"The United States must side with the women and children that have been victimized by China's one-child policy," Wicker said in his statement. "My amendment will do just that. By restoring the Kemp-Kasten provision that Democratic leaders have gutted in this bill, we can ensure that UNFPA is not assisting in coercive abortions in China with the help of U.S. taxpayer dollars."

According to its mission statement, UNFPA "supports countries in using population data for policies and programmes to reduce poverty and to ensure that every pregnancy is wanted, every birth is safe, every young person is free of HIV/AIDS, and every girl and woman is treated with dignity and respect."

In a 2003 article outlining Kemp-Kasten's legislative background, PlanetWire.org, writes:

"This decision was clearly not about China but about politics, which unfortunately come with a human cost. Without U.S. support, the programs that will suffer most are those in the 140 other countries where UNFPA works. UNFPA estimates that the $34 million could prevent 2 million unwanted pregnancies, nearly 800,000 induced abortions, 77,000 infant and child deaths, and 4,700 maternal deaths."