The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the United Nations’ agency for family planning and maternal health, will take a massive blow on its funding as U.S. cuts $32.5 million from budget, NPR reported on Tuesday, April 4.
In its memorandum of justification, the U.S. went on to state that although “there is no evidence that UNFPA directly engages in coercive abortions or involuntary sterilizations in China,” UNFPA “continues to partner with [China’s national family planning agency] on family planning, and thus can be found to support, or participate in the management of China’s coercive policies.”
The U.S.’s decision to cut funding was already expected but was still met with disappointment by advocates of reproductive health programs, according to the NPR article.
To counter the Trump administration’s claims, the UNFPA issued a statement, which reads that “all of its work promotes the human rights of individuals and couples to make their own decisions, free of coercion or discrimination.”
In addition, the UFPA statement stressed that member states have long considered the agency’s work in China for the greater good.
As for the major cut in the agency’s funding, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told the media at a press conference that the cut “could have devastating effects on the health of vulnerable women and girls and their families around the world.”
The U.S.’s contribution to the UNFPA funds has been instrumental in the agency’s operation. According to agency officials, the UNFPA was able to save 2,340 women from childbirth and pregnancy-related deaths thanks to the U.S.’s 2016 contribution.
The NPR also reported that the agency was able to “prevent 947,000 unintended pregnancies, prevent 295,000 unsafe abortions, and fund 1,251 surgeries for fistula.”
The budget cut would mostly be felt in other countries instead of China, where the UNFPA has actually spent minimally in the past years.