Rep. Maloney Predicts Obama Will Reinstate Funding For U.N. Population Fund

Main Category: Women's Health / Gynecology
Also Included In: Sexual Health / STDs
Article Date: 17 Nov 2008 - 5:00 PDT

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Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) on Wednesday at the launch of the United Nations Population Fund's annual State of World Population report said that President-elect Barack Obama will lift the Bush administration's freeze on U.S. funding for UNFPA's family planning programs, AFP/Yahoo! News reports (AFP/Yahoo! News, 11/12). Using a 1985 U.S. policy that restricts U.S. foreign aid to family planning programs abroad that use their own funds to provide abortion services or lobby their governments regarding abortion rights, Bush halted U.S. support for UNFPA in 2002, saying it supported "coercive" abortion programs in China, an allegation the agency has denied (Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 11/11). Maloney said, "We are about to see major cultural change in Washington," adding that "[o]ne big change is that UNFPA will be funded."

According to a June report by the Guttmacher Institute, "UNFPA operates in more than 150 poor countries, but does not provide or pay for abortion services in any of them. Instead, UNFPA works to reduce the need for abortion by promoting voluntary family planning." Azza Karam, senior UNFPA culture adviser, said, "We believe that family planning is very important ... it's not a luxury of whether or not you're going to have premarital sex. People need to have access to certain services." Karam added that even when laws are enacted to protect women and girls -- such as legislation prohibiting child marriage or female genital mutilation -- they are sometimes ignored because of cultural practices. "Sometimes, culture is an issue of life or death," Karam said, adding, "One woman dies every minute somewhere in the world because of complications during birth." Maloney said, "We should not impose our own ideologies, our own systems on any other country. The current administration has proven that just does not work." She added, "To bring about change, we have to be culturally sensitive" (AFP/Yahoo! News, 11/12).

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