Obama Pledges to Fund Pro-Abortion UNFPA After Killing Mexico City Policy
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
January 26, 2009
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — Now that President Barack Obama has fulfilled his promise to overturn the Mexico City Policy and fund groups that promote and perform abortions in other countries, he is laying out additional pro-abortion plans. In his statement accompanying his executive order, Obama says UNFPA funding is next.
Funding United Nations Population Fund has long been a controversial topic and President Bush annually withheld the $40 million in taxpayer dollars the UN group had typically received.
He did so because a State Department investigation found the agency was working hand-in-hand with Chinese officials who instituted its one-child population control policy.
The Chinese policy prohibits couples from having more than one child and violators are punished with forced abortions, sterilizations, and are subjected to numerous human rights abuses.
"I look forward to working with Congress to restore U.S. financial support for the U.N. Population Fund," Obama said Saturday.
"By resuming funding to UNFPA, the U.S. will be joining 180 other donor nations working collaboratively to reduce poverty, improve the health of women and children, prevent HIV/AIDS and provide family planning assistance to women in 154 countries," he added.
However, President Obama ignored the connection between the UNFPA and the Chinese forced-abortion program.
Following the governmental investigation, former Secretary of State Colin Powell said he had no doubt that the UNFPA was complicit in the population control program.
"I determined that UNFPA’s support of, and involvement in, China’s population-planning activities allowed the Chinese government to implement more effectively its program of coercive abortion," he wrote.
The State Department investigation came after a groundbreaking probe led by the Population Research Institute.
Colin Mason, PRI’s media director, confirmed to LifeNews.com last November that it stands by its probe showing the UNFPA involved in the program.
"Our investigation remains valid," Mason said. "We put boots on the ground, and made the results available to anyone who wanted them. Those who would disregard our findings show an appalling lack of respect for human rights."
PRI’s initial report, entitled "UNFPA, China, and Coercive Family Planning," is based on an investigation conducted by PRI researchers in China’s Sihui County.
Relying on interviews with over two dozen victims and witnesses, the 2001 investigation found that coercive abortion and sterilization practices were taking place where the UNFPA had supposedly instituted a "client-centered and voluntary family planning program."
In fact, PRI’s investigation discovered that the UNFPA shared an office with the very Chinese family planning officials who were carrying out forced abortions.
Steven Mosher, the president of the Population Research Institute, also commented on the potentiality of Obama funding the pro-abortion UN group.
"It would be a shame if Obama abandons both the women of China–and one of his most high-profile backers–in the name of the failed ideology of population control," Mosher told LifeNews.com.
"Americans don’t want their money going to an organization–the UNFPA–which works hand-in-glove with China’s population control police as they drag women off for forced abortions and forced sterilizations."
Obama’s funding the UNFPA would come as no surprise.
The Obama campaign, in an October 2007 response to a survey from the pro-abortion RH Reality Check web site, confirmed Obama would restore funding to the controversial group.
"Yes, Senator Obama would overturn the global gag rule and reinstate funding for UNFPA," Obama’s campaign responded.
President Bush has revoked funding for the UNFPA every year during his administration for violating a U.S. law prohibiting sending public funds to groups that promote forced abortions.
Related web sites:
Population Research Institute – https://www.pop.org
PRI YouTube video about UNFPA – https://www.youtube.com/colinpri1
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