U.S. is only country to not reaffirm population control agreement

The Fifth Asian and Pacific Population Conference ended Tuesday in Bangkok, Thailand, with the reaffirmation of a 1994 international family planning and population agreement by all of the participating countries except the United States. Officials from the Bush administration refused to reaffirm the agreement because the Administration disagrees with the document's support of "consistent condom" use in preventing HIV infections and over concerns that language in the agreement could be construed as promoting abortion. Conference attendees rejected the U.S. delegation's proposed changes to the draft to remove the language about condom use and reproductive rights in two votes of 31-1 and 32-1; the only vote in favor of the language change came from the U.S. contingent. The plan, as approved, aims to fight poverty throughout the world by focusing on 12 areas, including family planning, gender equality, and HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment.