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SAN JUAN (AP) - The head of the U.N. population agency on Wednesday urged U.S. President George W. Bush to restore funding that he blocked two years ago. Since 2002, the U.S. government has blocked US$34 million in annual funds to the U.N. Population Fund, saying it contributes to coerced abortions in China - a charge that Thoraya Ahmed Obaid denied again. "We hope there is a change in policy that will allow him (Bush) to release the funds that have been given to us by U.S. Congress," said Obaid, the agency's executive director. The UNFPA has insisted it could have used that money to prevent 2 million unwanted pregnancies and nearly 800,000 induced abortions. "We do have support from both parties in the Congress to allocate money for the agency. It is the president who has decided not to release the money," Obaid told The Associated Press during a U.N. conference in San Juan. Separately, a U.S. congressman wrote to Guatemala's president urging him to reject previous U.N. resolutions on reproductive rights, provoking criticism that the United States was trying to pressure foreign governments to accept anti-abortion policy. U.S. Rep. Chris Smith, a New Jersey Republican, was attending the conference of the U.N. Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean. About 300 delegates from 41 nations were on hand to review population and reproductive issues. "Countries are being pressured to unequivocally reaffirm previous documents from the (ECLAC) population meeting in Santiago last March, and this month's meeting in Mexico. These documents contain direct attacks on the right to life, family rights and national sovereignty," said Smith's letter to Guatemalan President Oscar Berger. Smith, who is anti-abortion, said that the documents do not make clear if reproductive rights include abortion as an option. "I urge you to consider instructing your delegation not to reaffirm these problem areas in the Santiago or Mexico documents because of these concerns," the letter said. The San Juan summit is considering progress in development, including through a plan adopted in 1994 at a Cairo summit to slow growth in world population _ then at 5.7 billion and now about 6.3 billion. Foreign nonprofit groups got hold of the letter and released it to reporters, saying it put inappropriate pressure on foreign governments to fall in line with U.S. policy. Smith said he has also been in contact with other governments at the conference. He denied he was trying to pressure anyone, saying he was trying to be informative. U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney, a New York Democrat attending the San Juan conference, called his letter "extremely worrisome." The U.S. delegation distanced itself from Smith's letter, saying it had nothing to do with it and was not trying to pressure anybody, a senior U.S. government official said on condition of anonymity. However, the U.S. delegation issued a statement, saying the United States "does not recognize abortion as a method of family planning. Nor does it fund abortions abroad. The United States does not believe it is the role of international organizations to promote abortion."
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