For Immediate Release:	July 23, 2002
For More Information:	Fiona Salter, Internationa Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), fsalter@ippf.org, +44 20 7487 7892
Sponsor Organization:	International Planned Parenthood Federation
US cuts to United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) funding
President George W. Bush's decision to deny the $34 million appropriated by Congress to the UN Population Fund is a case of cruel déjà vu. The International Planned Parenthood (IPPF) has felt the devastating impact of such cuts more than once. · In 1984, Ronald Reagan introduced the Mexico City Policy, which denied US funding to non-US agencies linked in any way to abortion-related services. Agencies were not even allowed to provide counselling on abortion as a choice. As a result, IPPF lost a quarter of its income. · On January 22nd, 2001, President Bush reinstated the heinous policy which Bill Clinton had repealed in 1993. Again, IPPF lost millions of dollars. These cuts have resulted in the closing of programmes and reduced services to the world’s poorest women and men, while women in the United States have always had access to safe and legal abortion, as well as the benefits of the freedom of speech. Now the Bush administration has reprised these horrific funding cuts. UNFPA has predicted that this action will result in 2 million unwanted pregnancies by curtailing the organisation's work. “Denying these women the ability to control their own reproduction condemns many to unwanted pregnancies, unsafe abortions and, in many cases, death,” says IPPF’s Director-General Designate, Steven Sinding. As UNFPA and IPPF grapple with the reality of 40 million people living with HIV/AIDS and 600,000 women dying every year in childbirth, IPPF urges the US Government to reconsider this draconian action and calls on international stakeholders to support the world’s two largest and most effective international organizations delivering family planning and reproductive health care to poor women around the world. For more information and to set up interviews, contact Fiona Salter on fsalter@ippf.org / 020 7487 7892. The International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) is the world’s largest voluntary organisation in sexual and reproductive health and rights provision. Founded in 1952 in India, the IPPF works in more than 180 countries worldwide.