President Donald Trump's executive order to defund the United National Family Planning Agency (UNFPA) sends a message to political foes both on the political left and the right.
The pro-abortion left will should not be too surprised since President Trump has already cut $400,000,000 in population control funds when he reaffirmed the Mexico City Policy a few days after his inauguration.
Anti-abortion leaders across the country are deeply gratified and congratulate the president for his decision.President of the Susan B. Anthony List, Marjorie Dannenfelser, calls the defunding, "a tremendous sign to the nation and world about what we value and what we abhor. Removing funds from involvement in China's coercive abortion and sterilization policies is the humane thing to do."
Trump’s decision to defund was made on the same basis used by both President Reagan and President George W. Bush: UNFPA actively "partners on family planning activities with the Chinese government agency responsible for these coercive policies." It’s well known that China employs coercive abortion and involuntary sterilization to enforce its "One Child Policy."
The One Child Policy, begun in 1979, was "officially" phased out in 2015, to be replaced by a "Two Child Policy." But as the nation’s preeminent expert of China’s population control, Steve Mosher, has said, "The one-child policy in China may be over, but the two-child policy will still mean forced abortions of second and third children, it may mean forced pregnancy in years to come, and it will certainly mean other abuses."
Asked for his comment, Congressman Jeff Fortenberry, R-Neb., responded, "The United Nations Population Fund has been involved with deeply troubling practices. Why would we give American taxpayer money to an organization with limited accountability, who have used these funds to participate in coerced abortion and involuntary sterilization? Public money should never harm life and the flourishing of families."
UNFPA funding approaches $1,000,000,000 so the loss of U.S. funding — $32,500,000 will have only a marginal impact, but combined with the money lost by the Mexico City Policy population controllers have suffered a serious setback.
With the defunding of Planned Parenthood’s $500,000,000+ already moving through Congress, there must be panic setting in among those organizations whose budgets blossomed under the terms of the Obama administration. That will eventually add up to over 1 billion dollars in lost revenue to the abortionists.
In the lost of UNFPA funding, however, there is another loss — public credibility.
With federal funding comes prestige, a prestige that opens doors to private foundations and major donors. These foundations and donors themselves can profit from being connected to an organization who enjoys a close relationship to the White House and Congress.
Austin Ruse, President of C-Fam, regards UNFPA defunding as an important step toward President Trump keeping his promises to his pro-life constituency, "This is a very good thing because UNFPA is a wicked agency and the US should not be involved with it.
"However, defunding UNFPA is a bare-minimum of the pro-life things we expect from President Trump. It is an easy thing, an important thing, but an easy thing. We expect more and bigger things."
The UNFPA, on the other hand, regards the decision as based upon "an erroneous claim" that the organization "participates in the management of, a program of coercive abortion or involuntary sterilization in China."
This is hard to swallow, given the evidence, but the more incriminating part of the statement is this, "We have always valued the United States as a trusted partner and leader in helping to ensure that every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe and every young person's potential is fulfilled." (Emphasis added).
First, a "young person" who is aborted will never have the opportunity to fulfill any potential. Second, the UNFPA does not have the power — no one does, to “ensure every pregnancy is wanted."
What UNFPA really means is that they will supply abortions to all women who do not "want" their babies. Finally, making childbirth "safe" merely provides another excuse for UNFPA to provide abortion to women who live in poverty or in the undeveloped countries.
This press release serves to corroborate the decision made by President Trump about the character and intentions of the UNFPA.
To the Never-Trumpers on the right, such as the neo-cons at the National Review, anti-abortion fundamentalists, and those marching under the flag of surrender represented by the "Benedict Option" — President Trump has once again proven his bona fides as being anti-abortion.
However, the Never-Trump crowd all share one regrettable characteristic: they are not interested in counter-evidence, it's an affront to their pride.
To their shame, they will ignore the half-billion dollars in federal funding President Trump has taken away from those who pro-abortion, marching under the banner of population control.
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops had not yet issued a statement when I contacted them yesterday, but I received a note that a statement would be issued today. Given that the USCCB has been consistently critical of the Trump administration, I was not surprised in the delay.
Dr. Deal W. Hudson took over Crisis Magazine in 1995, leaving in 2010 to become president of Catholic Advocate. While at Crisis, Hudson led the Catholic voter outreach for President George W. Bush in 2000 and 2004, and later advised the campaigns of both John McCain and Donald Trump on Catholic outreach. In 2014, he began his weekly two-hour radio show, "Church and Culture," on the Ave Maria Radio Network, and launched www.thechristianreview.com in 2015. His books include "Happiness and the Limits of Satisfaction" and "Onward Christian Soldiers: The Growing Political Power of Catholics and Evangelicals in the United States." To read more of his reports — Click Here Now.
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