June 7, 2002
Volume 4/ Number 12
Dear Colleague:
The U.S. State Department delegation to China is expected to release its report on UNFPA coercion soon. Pro-family groups—representing the views of millions of Americans—have signed the following letter to President Bush.
If you would like to sign this letter on behalf of yourself or as a representative of a pro-life, pro-family group, please hit “reply,” type in your name and address, or the name and address of the principal of your group, and send to PRI.
Steven W. Mosher
President
Group Letter Urges Bush to Invoke Kemp-Kasten
President George W. Bush
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20500
Dear President Bush:
We understand that a State Department delegation is in China investigating UNFPA’s involvement in China’s coercive one-child policy.
This delegation was preceded by what appears to have been two international whitewashes of forced abortion in China.
We have grave concerns about this current State Department investigation. The Chinese government agreed to receive this State Department delegation. It will be monitored by the Chinese government throughout the duration of its investigation. The delegation also will provide twenty-four hours notice of its travel plans to the Chinese. This will be more than enough time for the Chinese government to alert officials of their coming, and for cover stories of “voluntarism” to be in place.
The purpose of the delegation is to provide you, Mr. President, with the information to determine if U.N. Population Fund activities in China violate the Kemp-Kasten Amendment. This amendment prohibits U.S. funds from going to groups that support or manage programs of forced abortion and non-voluntary sterilization overseas.
In making your decision, we urge you to use the original interpretation of Kemp-Kasten. Two previous Presidents, Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush, determined that UNFPA activities in China alone were sufficient to render UNFPA ineligible to receive U.S. funds.
We have additional concerns about the flawed reinterpretation of Kemp-Kasten established by President Bill Clinton designed to circumvent federal protections against U.S. taxpayer support of forced abortion programs abroad. Sadly, this flawed reinterpretation—supported only by written statements from China and the UNFPA which allege that UNFPA is involved only in regions of China where coercion does not exist—has received subsequent concurrence from the U.S. Secretary of State, Colin Powell, in a State Department memo dated February 2, 2001.
Both the Chinese State Family Planning Commission (SEPC) and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) claim that coercion does not exist in thirty-two county family planning programs supported and jointly managed by the UNFPA in China. (Sources: “Reproductive Health/Family Planning Project,” CPR/98/PO1, The Project Office of the State Family Planning Commission, UNFPA; “UNFPA’s County Program in China: Providing Quality Care, Protecting Human Rights,” UNFPA, August 10, 2001.)
However, from September 27-20, 2001, a team of independent investigators from Population Research Institute recorded audio and videotaped testimonies of victims and witnesses of coercion in UNFPA’s “model” county program in Sihui, Guandong Province, PRC. More than two-dozen victims and witnesses said that coercion, only coercion, and nothing but coercion, exists in this UNFPA county program in China, in which SFPC and the UNFPA have expressed in writing that they “work together.”
China’s one-child policy is coercive. UNFPA clearly supports this program, which is implemented through forced abortion and non-voluntary sterilization, and is therefore in violation of Kemp-Kasten.
We urge you, Mr. President, to be very careful when reviewing the findings of the State Department delegation, and to defund UNFPA because of its continuing support of the coercive population program in China.
Sincerely,
POPULATION RESEARCH INSTITUTE
Steve Mosher
President
FAMILY RESEARCH COUNCIL
Connie Mackey
Vice President for Governmental Affairs
CONCERNED WOMEN FOR AMERICA
Sandy Rios
President
CATHOLIC FAMILY AND HUMAN RIGHTS INSTITUTE
Austin Ruse
President
THE SOCIETY FOR THE PROTECTION OF UNBORN CHILDREN
London, England
TRADITIONAL VALUES COALITION
Andrea Lafferty
Executive Director
SOUTHERN BAPTIST CONVENTION
Shannon Royce
Director of Government Relations & Legislative Counsel
Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission
CHRISTIAN COALITION OF AMERICA
Roberta Combs
President
COALITIONS FOR AMERICA
Paul M. Weyrich
National Chairman
RELIGIOUS FREEDOM COALITION
William J. Murray
President
FAMILY PROTECTION LOBBY
Douglas Stiegler
Executive Director
FAMILY ACTION ALLIANCE
Charles A. Donovan
Executive Director
TRADITION, FAMILY, PROPERTY, INC.
C. Preston Noell III
President
THE BEVERLY LAHAYE INSTITUTE
Janice Shaw Crouse, Ph.D.
Senior Fellow
NATIONAL ABSTINENCE CLEARINGHOUSE
Leslee Unruh
President and Founder
CLEVELAND RIGHT TO LIFE
Daniel P. Coyne
President
URBAN FAMILY
William T. Devlin
President
THE FAMILY RESEARCH INSTITUTE OF WISCONSIN
Julaine K. Appling
Executive Director
CHRISTIAN CIVIC LEAGUE OF MAINE
Mike Heath
Director
LAKE COUNTY RIGHT TO LIFE
Dawn E. Slike
President
