One of the sharpest differences you will find between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney is their approach to global reproductive health care in general and the United Nations Population Fund, known as UNFPA, in particular.
In a markup hearing at the House Foreign Affairs Committee yesterday, the committee voted to eliminate American funding for the UN Population Fund (UNFPA). The vote proceeded along a straight party line vot.
Cutting funding for UNFPA will end up costing more in the long run. In the short term, cutting funding to UNFPA will result in more women dying child birth; more unplanned pregnancies; and prevent a key mechanism for female empowerment worldwide.
July 11 is World Population Day. This year is particularly significant commemoration because on October 31, the world's population is expected to reach 7 billion.
Republicans in Congress are running a gimmicky YouCut program in which fans get to vote on what U.S. federal spending they would like to see cut. Apparently, the UN Population Fund was on this chopping block.
Here in Washington DC, they say my trash collection will stop if the Federal Government shuts down. That's infuriating. But it is all the more so if my trash is no longer collected because of a mistaken belief about what UNFPA is and what it does.
Secretary General Ban Ki Moon appointed Babatunde Osotimehin, a former health minister of Nigeria, as the new head of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).