U.N. Agency Says U.S. Withdrawal Of UNFPA Funding Made On Unfounded Claims, Reiterates Efforts To Promote Human Rights-Based Approach To Family Planning
Inter Press Service: “Devastating Consequences” for Women, Girls as U.S. Defunds U.N. Agency
“The U.S. has withdrawn all of its funding to the U.N. Population Fund (UNFPA), an agency that works on family planning and reproductive health in over 150 countries. The decision is based on what the UNFPA says is an erroneous claim that it ‘supports, or participates in the management of, a program of coercive abortion or involuntary sterilization (in China).’ … In a statement released in response to the funding cuts, the UNFPA said that ‘we have always valued the United States as a trusted partner and leader in helping to ensure that every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe, and every young person’s potential is fulfilled’…” (Yakupitiyage, 4/5).
Quartz: Trump’s cuts to global reproductive health could lead to more coerced abortions in China
“…In the documents sent to the Senate, the UNFPA is accused of involvement in forced sterilization and abortion population control measures put in place by the Chinese government. That’s because the UNFPA supports China’s National Health and Family Planning Commission (NHFPC), a government agency that, according to a 2016 bipartisan report from the State Department, enacts coercive family planning measures. As that report explicitly says, there is no evidence that UNFPA funding is directed to any forced procedures, but the U.S. government has considered the mere existence of a partnership enough to justify discontinuing funding to the U.N. agency. … A [UNFPA] spokesperson told Quartz that the agency ‘was assigned by U.N. member states to promote the human rights-based approach to family planning in China, because women in China have the right to seek family planning according to those terms,’ and is therefore required to collaborate with NHFPC, the government’s agency dedicated to family planning…” (Merelli, 4/5).
The KFF Daily Global Health Policy Report summarized news and information on global health policy from hundreds of sources, from May 2009 through December 2020. All summaries are archived and available via search.