by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
March 3, 2009

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Responding to a move by pro-abortion Democratic leaders in the House, a pro-life senator has introduced an amendment to stop UNFPA funding. Sen Roger Wicker has introduced an amendment to the Senate omnibus spending bill that would reverse the language the House put in its bill.

Last month, the House restored funding to the United Nations Population Fund, the UN group which supports China's forced abortion population control program.

The measure, H.R. 1105, contains language that would restore the money President Bush withheld from the UNFPA because of its pro-abortion activities.

Wicker told LifeNews.com on Tuesday that his amendment will "stop taxpayer dollars from being awarded to a group complicit in China’s forced sterilization and abortion population control program."

Wicker’s amendment would restore the Kemp-Kasten anti-coercion population control provision and the Senate will debate the omnibus spending bill and the amendment this week.

“The United States must side with the women and children that have been victimized by China’s one-child policy,” Wicker told LifeNews.com. “My amendment will do just that."

"By restoring the Kemp-Kasten provision that Democratic leaders have gutted in this bill, we can ensure that UNFPA is not assisting in coercive abortions in China with the help of U.S. taxpayer dollars," he added.

Several investigations have shown the UNFPA to work hand-in-hand with the family planning officials in China that enforce its coercive one-child policy with forced abortions and sterilizations as well as other human rights abuses.

Every year during his presidency, President Bush withheld tens of millions in taxpayer funds from the UNFPA, but Congressional Democrats, with a friend in Barack Obama in the White House, have restored the funds.

The House bill was brought to the floor under a closed rule that prohibited pro-life Rep. Chris Smith, a New Jersey Republican, from submitting amendments to either stop funding the UNFPA or restore the Mexico City Policy that President Obama rescinded.

The House adopted the rule and then passed H.R. 1105 by a vote of 245-178.

The omnibus bill adds language that makes it so the president or his administration is not required to sign off on the funding and make sure the UNFPA is not violating the Kemp-Kasten law which forbids funding groups involved in forced abortions.

The language causes a concern for pro-life advocates because it ties the hands of future presidents who want to limit UNFPA funding because of its involvement in China's forced abortion population control program. As a result, pro-life advocates may have to approve new language in a future bill for a future pro-life president to withhold the money in the manner Bush did.

The new language also goes much further than merely exempting the UNFPA from the Kemp-Kasten law. It is so broadly worded that the UNFPA will receive funding notwithstanding the operation of any provision of law.

As a result, even if the UNFPA were to violate provisions of law unrelated to abortion, it would still receive funding.

Not only has the funding been restored, but Congressional Democrats boosted the amount from $40 million to $50 million.

The Democratic spending plan also cuts total funding for abstinence education by $14.2 million, compared with the previous year.

ACTION: Contact your members of the Senate and urge strong support for the Wicker amendment to cut funding for the pro-abortion UNFPA. You can find contact information for any senator at http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

UNFPA Exposed: Episode 1 - 4