The House Foreign Affairs Committee on Wednesday will consider H.R. 2059, a bill to prohibit U.S. funding to the United Nations Population Fund, it was announced by U.S. Rep. Tom Marino, PA-10.
Marino is one of 33 cosponsors of the bill introduced by Rep. Renee L. Ellmers of North Carolina.
The ban would save American taxpayers $400 million over 10 years.
"This is just another example of how out of touch the Obama administration is with the principles of the people of the United States," Marino said. "Americans oppose using tax dollars to fund abortions in the United States and they certainly do not want the federal government paying for abortions in other nations.
"By contributing to the UNFPA we are borrowing money from China, 42 cents on the dollar, and giving it to the United Nations, which turns around and gives it to countries like China to support its one-child policy including abortion," he said. "This is state-sanctioned murder and the kind of thing that Americans are screaming about."
HR 2059 would prohibit the Secretary of State from making a contribution to the UNFPA which has been linked with coercive family planning activities, including abortions and forced sterilizations in China.
The Obama administration has provided $145 million to the UNFPA since 2009. UNFPA was not funded under the Reagan or two Bush administrations.