Obama Promises to Fund Coercive China One-Child Policy Collaborator UNFPA

By Kathleen Gilbert

WASHINGTON, D.C., January 26, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Following on the heels of the elimination of the Mexico City Policy, President Obama has confirmed that the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), which helped instigate, perpetuate and enforce China's coercive one-child policy, will again receive taxpayer dollars.

Appended to the statement announcing the end of the Mexico City Policy, Obama said: "In addition, I look forward to working with Congress to restore U.S. financial support for the U.N. Population Fund.

"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." The move came as no surprise as Obama has spoken out in favor of UNFPA funding in the past.

President Bush halted funding for UNFPA when it was discovered by an independent investigation in 2001, and confirmed by a U.S. State Department investigation in 2002, that the UN group supported restrictive laws and coercive population control tactics in China, including forced abortion and sterilization.

"The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has decided to continue to provide financial and technical assistance to the Chinese birth limitation program under the direction of China’s National Population and Family Planning Commission," read a 2006 statement from U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack.

It continued: "The U.S. opposition to this program is a matter of principle. It is not directed at UNFPA as an institution. Rather, it is based on the strong opposition of the United States to human rights abuses associated with coercive birth limitation regimes." The statement, however, was recently erased from the State Department website.

Secretary of State Colin Powell in 2002 confirmed the link between UNFPA and China's coercive population control policies following a Population Research Institute (PRI) probe (http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2001/oct/011005c.html).