Senate Joint Resolution
No. 51
CHAPTER 139
Relative to the United Nations Population Fund.
[
Filed with
Secretary of State
September 03, 2002.
]
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SJR 51, Karnette.
United Nations Population Fund.
This measure would respectfully request the President and the Congress of the United States to reinstate funding for the United Nations Population Fund.
Digest Key
WHEREAS, The Bush Administration has determined that the $34 million appropriated by Congress shall not be provided at this time to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) due to the Kemp-Kasten Amendment, which provides that none of the funds made available under the Foreign Assistance and Related Programs Appropriations Act of 1985 “may be made available to any organization or program which, as determined by the President of the United States, supports or participates in the management of a program of coercive abortion or involuntary sterilization”; and
WHEREAS, The UNFPA strives to establish universal access to reproductive health, promote awareness of population and human development issues, and support population and human development; and
WHEREAS, The UNFPA provides 142 countries with health services during pregnancy and birth, voluntary family planning, teen-pregnancy prevention, and services to protect women and families from HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections; and
WHEREAS, The UNFPA addresses the issues of population, family planning, women’s empowerment, and HIV intervention; and
WHEREAS, These issues are paramount to the United Nations’ goals of reducing poverty, increasing global stability and prosperity, and creating a sustainable population; and
WHEREAS, The UNFPA programs not only provide benefits to women, but also their families, their communities, and their nations; and
WHEREAS, The UNFPA is committed to a voluntary, human rights-based approach to reproductive health and family planning stipulated by the 1994 Cairo International Conference on Population and Development; and
WHEREAS, A fact-finding mission to China conducted by the United States found no evidence that the UNFPA had supported or participated in programs involving coercive abortion or involuntary sterilization in China; and
WHEREAS, Past funds to the UNFPA from the United States were restricted so that they did not fund programs in China; and
WHEREAS, Congress had already approved sending $34 million to the UNFPA in 2002; and
WHEREAS, The United States funding, estimated by the UNFPA, would be enough to prevent 2 million unwanted pregnancies, nearly 800,000 induced abortions, 4,700 maternal deaths, nearly 60,000 cases of serious maternal illness, and over 77,000 infant and child deaths; now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the Senate and Assembly of the State of California, jointly, That the Legislature of the State of California memorializes the President and Congress of the United States to reinstate the $34 million in funding for the United Nations Population Fund; and be it further
Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate transmit copies of this resolution to the President and Vice President of the United States, to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and to each Senator and Representative from California in the Congress of the United States.