FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

                    Executive Director's Statement on the
                  Withdrawal of U.S. Funding from UNFPA

 NEW YORK, 20 October 1998 – Following is a statement by Dr.
Nafis Sadik, Executive  Director of the United Nations
Population Fund (UNFPA):

 UNFPA deeply regrets today’s news that the United States
will not include funding for UNFPA in  appropriations for
the coming financial year. The decision penalizes not only
UNFPA but the  millions of ordinary women and men on whose
behalf we work. It will inevitably reduce our ability  to
implement vital programmes in the area of reproductive
health and rights.

 The U.S. decision will mean the unnecessary death and
suffering of women who are deprived of the  information and
means to plan their families. It will deny many people in
developing countries the  right that Americans take for
granted – the right to individual freedom in regard to the
size and  spacing of the family. It will weaken not only
population programmes but programmes aimed at  better
health, equal access to health and education for women, and
economic security.

 The U.S. decision will hit especially hard the
least-developed countries in Africa and elsewhere  whose
population programmes are most dependent on external
assistance. It will contribute to the  spread of sexually
transmitted diseases, including HIV/AIDS, which pose an
ever-larger threat to  health, life and prospects for
development. It is a step backwards from United States’
leadership in  the population field and United States’
support for internationally-agreed approaches to population
problems.

 The United States’ decision is misguided from the point of
view of all those, including UNFPA, who  seek to minimize
abortion. At the very time when individual demand for family
planning is rising all  over the world, it will weaken
family planning programmes and increase the use of abortion
to avoid  unwanted births.

 UNFPA-supported programmes have succeeded in raising the
use of family planning and reducing  reliance on abortion.
All UNFPA programmes are based on the principle that
individuals have the  right to make their own decisions in
regard to the size and spacing of the family and to the
means  and information to do so. UNFPA reproductive health
programmes do not promote abortion nor  provide assistance
for abortion services.

 Falling birth and population growth rates in developing
countries demonstrate beyond question the  practical
validity of promoting reproductive health and rights as ends
in themselves, as well as the  means to achieve smaller
families and slower population growth.

 The decision to deny U.S. funding to UNFPA is also
misguided from the point of view of all those  who, like
UNFPA, wish to promote reproductive health and rights in
China. The new UNFPA  programme in China, which is limited
to 32 counties, was carefully designed to ensure respect
for  the human rights norms agreed by 180 nations at the
International Conference on Population and  Development in
1994, including the vital principle of individual decision
on the size and spacing of  the family. The new programme
excludes all elements which might lead to lower standards,
such as
 incentives and quotas for family planning and family size.
It was approved early this year by the 36  nations that
comprise UNFPA’s Executive Board, including the United
States.

 Note for Editors:

 U.S. funding for UNFPA is $20 million in FY 1998. The total
approved by the U.S. for UNFPA in  FY 1998. was $25 million,
which was reduced by $5 million the amount expected to be
spent in  China. Since 1984, no U.S. funds have been
available for UNFPA expenditure in China. U.S.  funding for
UNFPA was suspended in 1986 when its total pledge was $46
million, and was  restored by President Clinton in 1993.
UNFPA’s total resources in 1997 were $290 million.

 In one year alone, the impact of the United States’
decision to withdraw funding from UNFPA will  be to deprive
870,000 women of effective modern contraception. Over
520,000 will end up not  using any method. Non-use and use
of ineffective methods will result in:

1,200 maternal and 22,500 infant deaths;
15,000 life-threatening illnesses and injuries to mothers
during pregnancy and childbirth.
500,000 unwanted pregnancies, resulting in:
234,000 unwanted births;
200,000 abortions.
--------------- end of press release --------



  Sam Lanfranco
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