Bush Transfers 34 Million Away 
From UNFPA Population Control

October 2, 2002—Washington, DC: President Bush formally shifted $34 million Monday from the U.N. Population Fund, which he said tolerates abortions and forced sterilizations in China, to an American-run program meant to boost children's health overseas.

The administration announced the Population Fund decision in July. Bush completed the move in a memorandum Monday to Secretary of State Colin Powell. The money will now go to the Child Survival and Health Programs Fund, overseen by the State Department's Agency for International Development.

Critics of the decision said it was driven by politics and vowed to fight to ensure funding for the U.N. program. Pro-abortion Rep. Nita Lowey (D-NY) is trying to transfer the money back to the United Nations.

The administration insisted that the U.N. Population Fund money was being used illegally by Chinese agencies that carry out forced abortions and sterilizations. A U.S. government fact-finding team that traveled to China in May found, ``The population programs of the People's Republic of China retain coercive elements in law and in practice.''

Also, the U.S. State Department gathered evidence of "social compensation fees" in UNFPA/Chinese State Family Planning Commission (SFPC) county programs and concluded that the UNFPA is helping China to "more effectively" carry out its program of forced abortion.

The team recommended that the administration release up to $34 million and that ``no U.S. government funds be allocated for population programs'' in China.

Last week, the UNFPA has admitted that it does not monitor the 32 counties in China where it operates.

In July, a congressional committee of the Peruvian government charged that the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) supported the massive forced sterilization campaigns executed by former Peruvian dictator Alberto Fujimori.