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President Bush's UNFPA policy is costing lives abroad

President Bush's UNFPA policy is costing lives abroad

Date published: 8/15/2004

Having worked on international family planning at the U.S. State Department from 1997 to 2001--including six months under President Bush--I continue to be outraged by the administration's distortion of the truth regarding these matters.

Assistant Secretary of State Gene Dewey's Aug. 9 letter claims that the "administration is firmly committed to protecting the health of women and children in the developing world."

Yet action after action proves this claim false.

In one of his first acts, President Bush restored the Global Gag Rule, restricting developing country organizations from providing family planning assistance.

The Gag Rule has forced the closure of health clinics throughout Asia and Africa, leaving millions in need. How does this protect the health of women and children?

While the president has made laudable pledges about halting the spread of HIV/AIDS, he has budgeted less than promised and has imposed unproven abstinence-until-marriage policies on the assistance that we do provide.

But because young married women in the developing world are at great risk of contracting HIV, these policies are not only irrelevant, they are deadly. Again, I ask, how are women and children protected?

The latest White House decision to withhold funding to UNFPA for the third straight year was based on charges that have been disproved by tens of investigative teams, including one hand-picked by the Bush administration itself.

This funding could have prevented 4,700 women from dying in childbirth, saved the lives of 77,000 infants and young children, and prevented countless numbers from becoming infected with HIV/AIDS.

Assistant Secretary Dewey needs to recognize that instead of protecting women and children, this president's politically driven decisions have condemned millions of them to illness and death.

Suzanne Petroni

Washington

Suzanne Petroni is senior program officer of The Summit Foundation.

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Date published: 8/15/2004