Trump admin pulls $300 million in funding for UN’s population control program

Fulfilling another one of his campaign promises, President Donald Trump in March ordered the defunding of the UN’s chief population control organization, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).

That process is now complete. Termination notices for more than 40 abortion, sterilization, and contraception promoting projects have been sent, cutting off some $335 million in funding, and saving countless babies.

But what really has gotten the UNFPA’s goat is the Trump administration’s announcement of May 9 that the UN group is in violation of the Kemp-Kasten Amendment. This Amendment, which dates from 1985, states that no U.S. funds may be made available to “any organization or program which, as determined by the President of the United States, supports or participates in the management of a program of coercive abortion or involuntary sterilization.”

The UNFPA, which indeed is involved in coercive programs of population control around the world, will not be eligible for one single penny of U.S. aid over the remainer of the Trump administration.

As someone who worked with New York Congressman Jack Kemp and Wisconsin Senator Bob Kasten to get the original Kemp-Kasten amendment passed some decades ago, I am personally overjoyed by this decision.

It was my original research in China that first brought the brutality of the one-child policy to the attention of the world. Women who were pregnant without government permission were subjected to an escalating series of threats and punishments—even being arrested and imprisoned–until they submitted to an abortion and subsequent sterilization.

It was PRI’s later on-the-ground research in China that provided the bulk of the evidence that the UNFPA was heavily involved in China’s long-running one-child policy. Investigations into the population control programs of other countries, such as Vietnam and Peru, proved that the UNFPA was supporting the same kinds of coercive tactics around the globe...

Trump’s decision to again cut funding to the UNFPA mirrors his actions during his first term, when he signed an executive order defunding the UN population group because it pushes Chinese-style programs on African countries.