This article was written in October, but only $322,000 had been contributed as of yesterday. The web site is http://www.unfpa.org/support/34million.htm
>ANOTHER ADMINISTRATION SNUB, BY MOLLY IVINS CREATORS SYNDICATE > >The latest in a long line of anti-woman decisions by the Bush >administration is, for once, getting some attention -- in part >because of the sheer cheapness of the move. > >President Bush has decided not to send the $34 million approved by >both houses of Congress for the United Nations Fund for Population >Activities (UNFPA). The fund provides contraception, family >planning and safe births, and works against the spread of HIV and > against female genital mutilation in the poorest countries of the >world. Thirty-four million dollars goes a long way in the parts of >the world where more than 600,000 women die every year from >pregnancy and childbirth, many of them children themselves. > >Of course, our poor government is so broke that it can't afford to >waste $34 million on women in poor countries. It has more important >things to do, like spending $100 million on "promoting marriage." > >Two women -- Jane Roberts, a retired teacher in California, and >Lois Abraham, a lawyer in New Mexico -- have started a splendid >symbolic protest, and it is spreading by e-mail, fax, newsletters >and all kinds of women's groups. The organizers are looking for "34 > million Friends of UNFPA" to send $1 each to the United Nations >(FPA) at 220 E. 42nd St., New York, NY 10017. > >Thoraya Ahmed Obaid, director of the UNFPA, said the $34 million >U.S. contribution would have helped prevent 2 million unwanted >pregnancies, 800,000 induced abortions, 4,700 maternal deaths and >77,000 infant and child deaths. > >We don't have $34 million to save the lives of poor women, but Bush >wants to spend $135 million on abstinence education, which doesn't >work. According to that fountain of misinformation, the Rev. Jerry > Falwell: "This announcement angered school sex educators, who >concentrate on teaching our nation's students that they should >explore their sexuality and ignore the consequences. But Mr. Bush >said government can teach children how to exhibit sexual control" > >Actually, sex education is entirely about the consequences of >"exploring sexuality," and it works. The Guttmacher Institute >published a report last week showing that the abortion rate is down >by 11 percent precisely because young people are getting more > education about sex. One would think the anti-abortion forces >would be grateful. > >Instead, there is every indication that in addition to taking away >a woman's right to choose whether to have an abortion, the Bush >administration is going after contraception. Bush now wants to >make W. David Hager chairman of the Food and Drug Administration's >Reproductive Health Drugs Advisory Committee. Hager is an ob-gyn >from Kentucky who wants the FDA to reverse its approval of RU-486, >the "abortion pill." Although Hager is the editor of a book that >includes the essay "Using the Birth Control Pill is Ethically > Unacceptable," he told Maureen Dowd of The New York Times that he >does not agree with the essay. > >Then why include it? He does not prescribe contraceptives for >single women, does not do abortions, will not prescribe RU-486 and >will not insert IUDs. Hager believes that headaches, PMS and > eating disorders can be cured by reading Scripture. I do not want >this man in charge of my health policy. > >It took almost all of human history for the population of the globe >to reach 1 billion people in 1800. It took only from 1987 to 1999 >for world population to grow from 5 billion to 6 billion. At >current rates, we will reach 13 billion by the middle of the 21st > century. Ninety-five percent of this growth will be in Africa, >Latin America and Asia. > >Studies estimate that by 2025, two out of every three people on >Earth will live in water-stressed conditions. The stress on global >resources is already apparent. > >While we spend trillions of dollars on weapons, the military and >homeland security, the real threats -- water scarcity, climate >change and population growth -- advance unchecked. > >I am asking you to join in sending a message from 34,000,000 > American women. The message will help women living in countries >where the lack of medical services (not to mention the lack of >other necessities that we take for granted every day) results in >hardships beyond our imagination. > >The US made a commitment of $34 million to the UN Population Fund >last winter, with Congress approving the funds and President Bush >signing the bill containing the appropriation. The Fund provides >family planning and reproductive health services to women in 142 > countries. It has a budget of about $270 million worldwide and >does "invaluable work," as Secretary of State Colin Powell said >during his confirmation hearings. The Fund's programs help some of >the most impoverished and underserved women in the world. > >Our country has reneged on its commitment. The reason given for > refusing to release the $34 million is the claim that the Fund >provides aid to Chinese government agencies that force women to >have abortions. To investigate that allegation, a State Department >fact-finding mission was sent to China in May. The mission reported > that it found NO evidence that the UN Population Fund "knowingly >supported or participated in the management of a program of >coercive abortion or involuntary sterilization" and recommended >that the funds be released. Furthermore, the UN Population Fund is > barred by law from using any US money in China and, as a UN >organization, from funding any abortion-related activities. > >If 34,000,000 American women send one dollar each to the UN > Population Fund, we can help the Fund continue its "invaluable >work" and at the same time confirm that providing family planning >and reproductive health services to women who would otherwise have >none is a humanitarian issue, not a political one. > >PLEASE, NOW: Put a dollar, wrapped in a plain sheet of paper > marked "34 Million Friends." If you wish your gift to be >acknowledged on the web address www.unfpa.org, print your name on >the sheet of paper. Then send it today in an envelope with "34 >Million Friends" as sender (and your own name and address if you >wish), addressed to: > > >Chief, Resource Mobilization Branch UNFPA 220 East 42nd Street > New York 10017 > > >For greater impact, send this letter on to at least ten friends who >may join in this message. The UNFPA is being inundated with these >letters, which must all be screened for anthrax. This has created >sufficient news that I heard of it on the PBS NewsHour. The >protest, as well as the funds received, will help provide family >planning assistance and reproductive health services where needed >and wanted in the world, and prevent future impoundments of > appropriated US funds or possibly even persuade this > administration to release the $34 million already appropriated for >2002. > >This appeal came to me from Genna Lewis Anderson, who had seen the >need while a Peace Corps volunteer in Africa and responded when >learning of this protest through a friend. The idea of "34 million >women" was new to me but drew on facts presented by The Population > Institute in its fall newsletter. I usually cannot find time to >compose letters to government officials, but this protest requires >so little of the sender that I immediately accomplished it and send >it along. > > Written by Molly Ivins. Thanks for reading. ------ End of Forwarded Message
