BERLIN (AP) — The U.N. population agency chief says she regrets the U.S. government's decision to cut funding for programs that help ensure safe pregnancies worldwide.

Dr. Natalia Kanem said Wednesday that more than half the $70 million Washington used to give the agency annually was used for life-saving humanitarian programs.

The Trump administration announced in 2017 it was cutting all funding to UNFPA, a gesture to American conservatives.

Launching the agency's annual report in Berlin, Kanem said "we do regret the decision of the United States to deny funding to UNFPA as we saved so many lives of women and girls together."

She said UNFPA works in countries such as Venezuela to provide hospitals with supplies for safe births, train doctors "and also to provide contraception to women."