Biden Restores Funding to the UN's Population Fund, "A Ray of Hope for Millions" of Young Women

This week President Joe Biden restored funding to the UN Population Fund [UNFPA], a women's reproductive health organization that America helped to found in 1969. The agency works in the developing world to provide comprehensive sex education, maternal health care, and access to birth control. Additionally, it has become the global leader in fighting the scourges of child marriage, gender-based violence, and female genital mutilation.

Former President Donald Trump had cut funding to the organization to appease his evangelical base, claiming, without evidence, that the organization supported coercive abortion and involuntary sterilization. To be clear, there has never been any evidence, none, that the agency engaged in such activities. The accusations were simply a pretense.

UNFPA's executive director, Dr. Natalia Kanem responded to President Biden's decision to restore funding in a statement saying, it offers “a ray of hope for millions of people around the world,” and will have an "enormous” impact on the agency’s work, particularly as the world continues to grapple with the coronavirus pandemic.

Kanem, Twitter: "With the support of our partners, we can end needless deaths in childbirth, stop gender-based violence, and make family planning available to all who want it."

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the US would appropriate $32.5 million to support UNFPA this year. America now rejoins a group of around 100 UN Member States who fund the organization.

#UnitedNations #news #Biden

By: Don Lam & Curated Content