UN Agency on Population Blames US for Cutbacks

The Bush administration's decision to withhold $34 million appropriated by Congress for the UN Population Fund because of accusations that it condones forced abortions in China is causing the agency to cut its staff and shelve new programs, fund officials said this week. Agency officials, including the fund's Executive Director Thoraya Obaid, said the loss of a major part of its budget comes at a time when demands for contraceptives are rising in the developing world, where women are increasingly taking charge of their reproductive lives.

The American contribution, the equivalent of 13 percent of the agency's $260 million budget for 2002, was frozen after Rep. Christopher Smith (R-N.J.) wrote to President Bush in December charging that the population fund acquiesced in Chinese birth control policies that include forced abortions and involuntary sterilizations. The agency has responded that its work in China is limited to counties where the one-child family policy is no longer enforced.

"When the most powerful president in the world will not release money already allocated to prevent unwanted pregnancy, to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS, for the poorest citizens in the world, where is the morality in that?" asked Amy Coen, president of Population Action International.

The UN population fund has programs that supply condoms to men in groups at high risk for HIV/AIDS, and these expenditures may also be cut, fund officials said. Supplies are already scarce. Patrick Friel, the fund's expert on contraceptive services, said in an interview last week that demands for condoms for use outside marriage amounted to $297 million this year. If condoms dispensed within family planning programs for married couples were added to that, the total need is $954 million. Female condoms are also being distributed as widely as possible for use as both a contraceptive and a second line of defense against STDs, Friel said.

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