Issue Position: Women's Issues - United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)

Issue Position

As a strong defender of international family planning, I have been a longtime supporter of UNFPA (United Nations Population Fund). UNFPA has been, and continues to be, a leader in the renewed commitment of the world community to stabilize global population and improve the status of women. The Agency operates in over 146 nations in the world and supplies ¼ of all grant assistance to population programs worldwide; more than ½ of UNFPA's assistance is devoted to maternal and child health programs, including voluntary family planning. Since 2001, Congress has appropriated money to contribute to UNFPA each year, and each year the administration has withheld that contribution, invoking the Kemp-Kasten provision. The administration claims UNFPA supports the Chinese government in forced sterilizations and coercive abortions - a claim that was flatly refuted by the State Department's own fact-finding team. I continue to work to restore funding to the Agency and am very hopeful that under an Obama Administration, UNFPA will get the funding it deserves and needs to continue its lifesaving work.

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