Bush administration withholds U.N. funding

The Bush administration on Friday announced that for the third consecutive year the government is withholding $34 million in funding for the United Nations Populations Fund, saying that the organization supports abortions in China, the Los Angeles Times reports. UNFPA spent about $3.5 million over the past year to educate Chinese women about HIV transmission and contraception, agency officials say. But the White House asserts that UNFPA indirectly supports abortion in China. Bush invoked the "Mexico City Policy"--so called because it was originally implemented by President Reagan at a population conference in Mexico City in 1984--which prevents U.S. funds from going to any organization that provides abortion information, counseling, or services, even if it does so with its own money or through a separate funding stream. Bush has blocked funding to UNFPA every year since he has taken office. The Senate and House approved the current funding for UNFPA in December 2003. UNFPA says the U.S. money is needed to help slow the spread of HIV in developing countries and also could prevent as many as 2 million unintended pregnancies, 800,000 abortions, 4,700 maternal deaths, and 77,000 child deaths worldwide.