Dear Colleague:
If you are opposed to forced abortion, please sign, address, and send the following letter to your Member of Congress.
Steven W. Mosher
President
URGENT ACTION ITEM
Letter to Congress:
Oppose Forced Abortion, Defend Kemp-Kasten!
Dear Member of Congress:
In the coming days, you will have the opportunity to vote to protect one of the most important human rights protections in U.S. law: the Kemp-Kasten amendment. Since 1985, the Kemp-Kasten amendment to the Foreign Operations Appropriations Act has ensured that U.S. taxpayer funds will not go to “any organization or program which… supports or participates in the management of a program of coercive abortion or involuntary sterilization.”
I urge you to defend Kemp-Kasten and to strike the Crowley amendment from the State Department Authorization bill (HR 1950).
Unfortunately, UNFPA supporters in Congress are seeking to undermine Kemp-Kasten by amending the State Department Authorization bill. The Crowley amendment to HR 1950 would fund UNFPA unless UNFPA “directly” supports forced abortion. It would fund UNFPA even though UNFPA aids, abets, and supports China’s coercive abortion program.
This defense of UNFPA is remarkably similar to Adolph Eichmann’s ludicrous defense at his trial in Jerusalem just before he was executed for crimes against humanity. Two of the charges against Eichmann, for crimes committed against Jews and minorities, were banning births and interrupting pregnancies. Eichmann’s final defense was that he did not directly carry out forced abortions himself, but merely “aided and abetted” in forced abortion campaigns. (Source: “A Report on the Banality of Evil: Eichmann in Jerusalen,” Hannah Arendt, XV, Judgment, Appeal and
Execution.)
The United Nations Population Fund supports forced abortion in China. On October 17, 2001, the House International Relations Committee heard testimony from an undercover fact-finding team that went to investigate claims of forced abortion in a UNFPA county in China where the UNFPA told Congress that abortion and sterilization are voluntary. Investigators were told that family planning is not voluntary in this UNFPA county. Coercive family planning policies include: age requirements for pregnancy; birth permits; mandatory use of IUDs; mandatory sterilization, crippling fines for non-compliance; imprisonment for non-compliance; destruction of homes and property for non-compliance; forced abortion and forced sterilization.
Also, in May of 2002, a U.S. State Department investigative team found evidence that coercion takes place in UNFPA county programs in China. According to this team, Chinese officials in UNFPA counties admitted that “social compensation fees are levied” for “out of plan” births, and that these fines are “an important disincentive” for women who would otherwise wish to bear a child. (Source: U.S. State Department Delegation to China, “Report of the China UNFPA Independent Assessment Team, May 29, 2002; Memorandum of Conversation between UNFPA/China Assessment Team and Pingba Co. Dep. Magistrate, May 18, 2002, and Sihui City Deputy Mayor, May 23,
2002.) The State Department also found evidence that UNFPA supports China’s coercive population program with funding, and technical and surgical support.
Based on this evidence, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell concluded, on July 21, 2002, that the “UNFPA’s support of, and involvement in, China’s population planning activities allows the Chinese government to implement more effectively its program of coercive abortion.” Secretary Powell stated that “Kemp-Kasten… precludes further funding of that organization [UNFPA] since it is supporting or participating in the management of a ‘program of coercive abortion.’” (Analysis of Determination that Kemp-Kasten Amendment Precludes Further Funding to UNFPA under Pub. L. 107-115, US State Dept., July 21, 2002.)
Rightly so, the U.S. contribution of $34 million to the UNFPA for 2002 was withheld.
As Americans who value freedom, I am sure we can agree that we want to do absolutely everything in our power to ensure that we are not directly or indirectly supporting the horrible practice of coercive abortion and involuntary sterilization. The U.S. Congress should continue to press the UNFPA to comply with basic human rights standards, not weaken those standards to fund the UNFPA.
I urge you to oppose forced abortion, defend Kemp-Kasten, and strike the Crowley amendment from HR 1950.
Sincerely,
(Sign your name)
