C-Fam Applauds U.S. Decision to Withhold Funding to UNFPA

By C-Fam Staff | July 17, 2019

The Trump administration should be commended for once again withholding funding for the United Nations Population Fund. The agency’s work in support of family planning agencies that carry out coercive policies in China, and its choice to give its inaugural population award to the Chinese government’s family planning division are troubling. But the reasons to defund UNFPA extend far beyond that.

UNFPA claims among its chief partners Marie Stopes International and the International Planned Parenthood Federation, both of which aggressively promote abortion around the world. To fund an agency that partners with organizations that are ineligible to receive U.S. funding due to this administration’s policy, Protecting Life in Global Health Assistance, would be contradictory and counterproductive.

UNFPA also falsely equates “unmet need” for family planning with lack of access, which is false in all but five percent of cases.  While UNFPA might well claim credit for having nearly saturated the global market for contraceptives, they instead misinterpret the facts in order to call for more funding.

Finally, when it comes to funding, UNFPA could not be more clear that U.S. support is unnecessary.  To quote UNFPA’s chief spokesman, “Some partners have pulled out of the reproductive health field, but UNFPA has more money than ever.”

The U.S. is the single largest bilateral donor of women and children’s health overseas. The funding withheld from UNFPA will be transferred to global health funding.

The Trump administration deserves applause for consistently denying funding to UNFPA. Doing so would be inconsistent with the administration’s values and priorities, duplicative in the context of widespread availability of family planning, and fiscally irresponsible given the fact that UNFPA has already more than made up the difference.

To arrange further comment, contact Lisa Correnti media@c-fam.org.

Share on Facebook
Share on Twitter