For Immediate Release:	July 16, 2004
For More Information:	June Zeitlin, Women's Environment and Development Organization (WEDO), 212-973-0325
Sponsor Organization:	Women’s Environment and Development Organization (WEDO)
"This is a devastating blow to women around the world, and part of the president’s ongoing war on women at home and abroad"
New York City—The Women’s Environment and Development Organization denounces today’s announcement by the Bush administration that it would once again withhold the $34 million Congress earmarked for the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) in the current fiscal year. “This is a devastating blow to women around the world, and part of the president’s ongoing war on women at home and abroad. The actions of the Bush Administration means more women will continue to die because of inadequate reproductive rights and health programs,” stated June Zeitlin, Executive Director of WEDO, the Women’s Environment and Development Organization. UNFPA provides safe motherhood, family planning and HIV/AIDS prevention services for women and their families in 142 poor countries around the world. This is the third year in a row that the administration has withheld funding. “The Bush administration’s withdrawal of funds is part of a clear pattern of policy reversals on historic U.S. support for women’s rights and health programs. Again and again, the president has chosen to ignore proven strategies to improve women’s health, development and rights by choosing ideology over facts,” Zeitlin added. The Bush administration’s withdrawal of UNFPA funding is the latest action in a series of decisions that have backtracked on historic U.S. support for international programs that promote women’s equality and empowerment: In March of this year, the administration was the only one of 42 countries at the U.N. Commission on the Status of Women meeting in New York City to reject a resolution on the release of women and children hostages because it contained language on reaffirming the Beijing Platform of Action. The Beijing Platform was adopted by 189 countries in 1995, and united the international community behind goals to improve women’s status in 12 critical areas identified as the main obstacles to women’s advancement around the world. Also in March, the United States was the only one of 38 country delegations at a regional U.N. meeting in Santiago, Chile to oppose a declaration of support for the International Consensus on Population and Development (ICPD) adopted in Cairo in 1994. The historic ICPD Programme of Action rejected quotas and demographic targets, agreeing instead on the need to invest in meeting the needs of individuals for education, reproductive health care and services, especially for women. The United States was a leader in drafting these historic agreements on women’s rights and health, but the Bush administration has sought to recast the these document in ideological terms, eliminating all references to “reproductive health services” and “condoms” and asserting parental control over all adolescent decision-making irregardless of the family situation. # # #