January 17, 2002

President George W. Bush

The White House

1600 Pennsylvania Ave,

Washington, DC 20500

Dear President Bush:

We are writing on behalf the 2,200 clinicians, researchers, and educators who are members of the Association of Reproductive Health Professionals (ARHP) to encourage you to release the funding for the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). UNFPA-funded programs help raise health care standards in the developing world. While giving children the chance for healthy, productive lives, these programs effectively reduce maternal death rates, abortion rates and the incidence of HIV/AIDS and other infectious diseases.

UNFPA programs do not force women in China—or anywhere else—to have abortions. We ask you to look at the facts, ignore the misleading rhetoric, and do the right thing for the health of women and children around the world.

By freezing the family planning funding for the United Nations Population Fund you are putting women, men, and children in grave danger. If you choose to eliminate or cut the funding, the results would be catastrophic; more abortions, more dead children under the age of five, women killed or mutilated by unsafe abortions, and thousands of new cases of HIV/AIDS in the developing world.

As a father of two daughters, we’re sure you care about the welfare of women and children.

.. The overwhelming majority of Americans believe that long-term stability in developing countries is in the best interest of the United States and the world. Your Secretary of State, Colin Powell, understands the importance of this funding, telling a House committee last spring that UNFPA "…provides critical population assistance to developing countries."

We implore you to listen to the citizens of this country and the world and to release the funds in their entirety.

Sincerely,

Felicia Stewart, MD                                      Wayne Shields

ARHP Board Chair                                      ARHP President and CEO