NATIONAL POLITICS & POLICY | U.S. Bans Contraceptive Supplies to British Family Planning Group Working in Africa
[Oct. 3, 2008]

The State Department and USAID on Thursday said they have notified six African governments to stop providing U.S.-funded contraceptives donated to the British family planning organization Marie Stopes International, after USAID made a determination that the organization has partnered with a United Nations program in China that the Bush administration claims promotes coerced abortions and involuntary sterilization, the AP/Yahoo! News reports.

The U.S. does not give direct assistance to Marie Stopes, but the organization is one of several groups that distributes U.S.-donated contraceptives in Africa. The ban will impact at least six African countries, including Ghana, Malawi, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe. Since 2002, the Bush administration also has declined to release U.S funding to the U.N. Population Fund, or UNFPA, because of its activities in China using a similar rationale (Lee, AP/Yahoo! News, 10/2).

In a release, Marie Stopes CEO Dana Hovig denied that the organization supports coercive abortion or involuntary sterilization in China or elsewhere. Hovig called the decision "purely political," adding that "[o]nly the Bush administration could find logic in the idea that they can somehow reduce abortion and promote choice for women in China by causing more abortion and gutting choice for women in Africa. This senseless decision is likely to have only one clear consequence: the death of African women and girls" (Marie Stopes release, 10/2). The State Department and USAID said that contraceptive supplies will continue to be donated to the affected countries in the same quantity and that they are "working with governments in the affected countries to ensure that our commodities reach the women and men who need them" (Lee, AP/Yahoo! News, 10/2).

According to Uganda's Daily Monitor, Ugandan Director General of Health Services at the Ministry of Health Sam Zaramba said he was not aware of the decision and had "not received any communication from USAID regarding that matter." He added that Marie Stopes is one of Uganda's "very strong partners in reproductive health, especially in the area of family planning. We have not registered anything wrong they are doing." However, Grieser confirmed that the agency will be asking governments not to give U.S.-donated contraceptives to Marie Stopes. According to Marie Stopes, the group runs a network of 16 clinics across Uganda (Kirunda, Daily Monitor, 10/3).





The information contained in this publication reflects media coverage of women’s health issues and does not necessarily reflect the views of the National Partnership for Women & Families.

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