For Immediate Release:	May 7, 2003
For More Information:	Suzanne Anziska, Office of Congressman Joseph Crowley, suzanne.anziska@mail.house.gov, (202) 225-3965
Sponsor Organization:	Office of Congressman Joseph Crowley
“Restoring U.S. funding for UNFPA programs is crucial to improving the health of women and their families and to addressing rapid population growth."
Washington, DC—Today, Congressman Joseph Crowley’s (NY-07) amendment to the State Department Reauthorization bill was passed by a vote of 23-22 in the House International Relations Committee. The Crowley Amendment would restore funding to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). “I am pleased to offer this extremely important amendment,” said Congressman Crowley. “Restoring U.S. funding for UNFPA programs is crucial to improving the health of women and their families and to addressing rapid population growth. UNFPA provides international leadership on population issues and is a key source of financial assistance for family planning programs in developing countries. It is a disgrace that the Bush Administration has held UNFPA funding back. By withholding our contribution to UNFPA, we send a strong message to women in the developing world that we choose not to help. This amendment will ensure that women and children in 150 countries in which UNFPA works, has the resources it needs to continue their good work.” The Crowley Amendment seeks to do two things. It provides $50 million per year for UNFPA for FY '04 and '05. Furthermore, it asks for clarification of Kemp-Kasten. The Kemp-Kasten provision in current law prohibits U.S. funding for an organization that “participates in the management of a program of coercive abortion or involuntary sterilization.” According to Congressman Crowley, the Kemp-Kasten language is vague and unclear, and has been unevenly applied over the years, particularly in relation to UNFPA. “The Administration has used the Kemp-Kasten provision to cut off funding for UNFPA based on its activities in China, although UNFPA is actively working to convince the Chinese government to end coercive practices. My amendment maintains the protections in Kemp-Kasten while clarifying its intent by prohibiting U.S. funds from going to UNFPA only if it ‘directly supports or participates in coercive abortion or sterilization.’ This clarification is needed because of recent misapplication of Kemp-Kasten and the devastating consequences for poor women and men in 150 countries around the world,” said Congressman Crowley. With U.S. support, between 1998 and 2002 UNFPA implemented a program in 32 Chinese counties demonstrating to the Chinese government that voluntary family planning programs that reject a coercive approach would work in China and should be universally adopted there. Chinese Government birth quotas -more- were eliminated in these counties. Congressman Crowley continued, “It is interesting that UNFPA’s presence in China is having positive, not harmful, effects. No mainstream human-rights organization has ever accused UNFPA of being complicit in violations being perpetrated by the Chinese government. Even the Bush Administration’s own handpicked fact-finding team, which traveled to China last year, found no evidence that ‘UNFPA has knowingly supported or participated in the management of a program of coercive abortion or involuntary sterilization in the PRC.’ The team recommended that U.S. funds be released to UNFPA immediately. Yet the Administration did the exact opposite, and cancelled funding altogether. The Bush Administration is taking advantage of the vague nature of current legislative language. We cannot allow UNFPA’s funding to be cut off unilaterally, with no evidence of wrongdoing, while the agency is working affirmatively to end human-rights abuses. My amendment reaffirms the U.S. opposition to coercion, while ensuring that mere politics cannot threaten family planning funding for the world’s poorest women.” -End-