For Immediate Release:	June 26, 2008
For More Information:	Meghan O'Shaughnessy, Office of Representative Carolyn B. Maloney (D-NY), (202) 225-7944
Sponsor Organization:	Office of Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney
"I am deeply disappointed, but not surprised, that the Bush Administration has remained in its retrograde rut by refusing to fund UNFPA for the seventh consecutive year."
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) released the following statement today on the Bush Administration’s decision to again block the United States’ contribution to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA): “I am deeply disappointed, but not surprised, that the Bush Administration has remained in its retrograde rut by refusing to fund UNFPA for the seventh consecutive year. This White House is so blinded by political extremism that it couldn’t even accept UNFPA's offer to dedicate every penny of the U.S.’s $34 million contribution to help eradicate obstetric fistula - an objective we should all be able to agree on, whatever our family planning position. “I am very much looking forward to next year, when a new Administration will be able to reverse eight years of misguided Bush Administration policies that have imperiled the health of millions of women worldwide, and return the U.S. to its former position of leadership in funding family planning and reproductive health care worldwide.” Background: 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. In the 109th Congress, Maloney and a bipartisan group of colleagues undertook a bold attempt to guarantee that the U.S.’s contribution to UNFPA would go through without the administration’s resistance, but it was defeated on the House floor. Maloney has also led efforts to send the U.S.’s contribution to specifically aid the UNFPA’s Campaign to End Fistula. Obstetric fistula is a condition that arises from poor pre-natal care and results in horrific and debilitating vaginal and intestinal injuries in women and, often times, stillborn babies. For more: http://maloney.house.gov/index.php?option=com_issues&task=view_issue&issue=270&Itemid=35. ###