by
Stephen Braunlich
August 4,
2008
LifeNews.com Note: Stephen
Braunlich writes for the Catholic
Family and Human Rights Institute. This article originally appeared
in the pro-life group's Friday Fax publication.
New
York, NY (LifeNews.com) -- The United Nations Population Fund
(UNFPA) recently released its annual report for 2007, touting principally
the organizations work in the field of sexual and reproductive
health.
The radical nature of the document is revealed in the number of times certain issues are mentioned. In a 36 page document "reproductive health" or "reproductive rights", which are used as euphemisms for abortion, are mentioned 80 times.
Widespread
killers like malaria and tuberculosis do not receive any mention at
all. Clean water, clearly one of the chief problems of the world's
poor, does not receive a mention and safe sanitation, the lack of
which is a leading killer in the developing world, received one mention.
The annual report reveals that in 2007, over half of UNFPAs
program expenses went to reproductive health programs, at a cost of
$146.6 million. Region by region, more funds were spent on reproductive
health initiatives than any other program.
Though
UNFPA refuses to release detailed accounting of its programs and the
annual report lacks the detailed financial accounting commonplace
in annual corporate filings, it provides anecdotes of agency expenditures.
Examples of last years UNFPA initiatives include developing
guidelines and protocols for reproductive health services
in the former Soviet Republic of Georgia. One needs to look elsewhere
for specifics about on-the-ground practices, however.
UNFPA
press releases report that mobile reproductive health teams in Georgia
distribute contraceptive devices, including intrauterine device (IUD)
insertion kits. IUDs can cause abortions by changing the lining of
the uterus to prevent a fertilized egg from implanting. UNFPA consistently
denies they support abortion in any way.
The report also reveals techniques used to promote UNFPAs agenda
among minors. UNFPA collaborated with the Lebanese government to create
lebteen.com, a site that encourages teenage use of the morning-after-pill.
Though promoted as emergency contraceptives, the pills
can function as abortifacients by causing the expulsion of fertilized
eggs.
Among the more significant initiatives downplayed in the report is
UNFPAs new strategic master plan. It
receives only passing reference though it will guide the agency through
2011.
One of the plans major goals is universal access to reproductive
health by 2015 through promotion of reproductive rights
a term defined on UNFPAs website as encompassing a right
to privacy, which is commonly understood as a euphemism for abortion.
The plan also focuses on mental health as an integral aspect
of reproductive health.
In
the United States and elsewhere mental health has been
used radically to expand abortion rights beyond cases where a mothers
physical well-being is at issue. Indicators that UNFPA will use to
gauge success toward meeting this goal include increasing the number
of countries that provide public funding for reproductive health services
and the prevalence of contraceptive usage.
A second master plan goal is for women and adolescent girls to exercise
reproductive rights.
This
objective includes using human rights systems to expand reproductive
rights and integrate these rights into national policies. Measures
of successful implementation include enlarging the number of countries
that enshrine reproductive rights among the fundamental
human rights recognized by their courts, and an increase in the number
of laws incorporating such rights.
The United States under the Bush administration has withheld funding
from UNFPA because of its complicity in China's forced abortion and
sterilization programs.
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