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Associated Press, January 21, 2005 Tsunami Relief
May Mean New Abortion Fight in Congress
WASHINGTON -- New York lawmakers who visited the tsunami-scarred regions of southeast Asia this week aim to reopen a congressional fight over abortion when an aid bill is offered next month. At issue are an estimated 150,000 pregnant women, living in areas affected by the tsunamis, who desperately need access to health care, according to Democratic Reps. Steve Israel and Joseph Crowley, who just returned from the region. "Fifty thousand of those women will give birth in three months, and many of those women have lost their maternity wards," said Israel, who lives in Huntington, on Long Island. The congressional delegation visited a maternity ward in Sri Lanka that was wiped out by the giant wave, leaving nearly 300 patients without proper medical treatment. The agency that could do the most good for expectant mothers, according to the lawmakers, is the United Nations Population Fund. However, in recent years, the United States has refused to contribute to the fund. The Bush administration says the agency helped China manage programs involving forced abortions, a charge the agency denies. Rep. Israel said Friday that the United States' stance could have a disastrous long-term effect in southeast Asia. "This is a hidden and long-term crisis that the tsunami will create: pregnant women who will not have basic conditions to deliver their children, high rates of infant mortality, and all because of an uninformed, right-wing policy," said Israel. Crowley, who represents parts of Queens and the Bronx, said he believed Congress may agree to provide one-time funding to the United Nations agency for the tsunami effort, since lawmakers agreed to a similar $600,000 effort to help women in Afghanistan. "Within this Congress, there are certainly people who are opposed to UNFPA under any circumstances," said Crowley. "But what they can provide here are very basic but very lifesaving instruments and also ensure as safe births as possible." The House plans to hold hearings on tsunami aid next month. The State Department's Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration expects no change in policy toward UNPFA. "We are not able to fund UNFPA right now. The restrictions apply across the board until there's a change in the Chinese policies that UNPFA participates in," said Robert Hilton, a spokesman for the bureau. << Associated Press -- 1/21/05 >>
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