Thank You, President Bush.

Genevieve Kineke (Feminine Genius) reminds us to thank our President:

For those who wonder about the good effects of a pro-life president, see the good news about the US refusing to fund the UNFPA (United Nations Population Fund) which supports China's mandatory abortion and sterilisation program. This is the fourth year in a row that the administration has made the same decision . . .

Genevieve directs our attention to a current article in the current issue of Time magazine on China's involvement in a brutal campaign of forced abortions and sterilizations.

LifeSiteNews has more on the story:

The White House has once again denied the controversial United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) financial backing – for the fourth year running, despite assurances from the UNFPA that it is not involved in coercive abortion in China. The UNFPA would normally receive $34 million; instead, $25 million will be redirected to the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

US law prohibits the country from contributing to any organization that participates in coercive abortion – a practice widely acknowledged in Communist-ruled China. Despite alleging that they have no participation in this practice – as a press release from the UN dated today claims – other groups continue to document evidence that the UNFPA is directly involved in funding and aiding China’s coerced abortion program.

The United States refuses to fund the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) based on its U.S. Department of State investigations. Last December Arthur Dewey, the U.S. assistant secretary of State for the bureau of population, refugees, and migration made a presentation to the House International Relations Committee, stating that “UNFPA support of, and participation in, China's population-planning activities allows the Chinese government to implement more effectively its program of coercive abortion, thus triggering the Kemp-Kasten prohibition on support to any organization that supports or participates in the management of a program of coercive abortion or involuntary sterilization.” The result has been that the United States has not funded UNFPA during the past three years. . . .

The move earned the praise of Catholic congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ).

Readers might recall that President Bush's principled refusal to fund abortions was a source of conflict in the 2004 presidential race, with Senator Kerry promising to restore full funding to the U.N. program.