Associated Press: U.N. population fund chief laments U.S. funding cut
“The U.N. population agency chief says she regrets the U.S. government’s decision to cut funding for programs that help ensure safe pregnancies worldwide. The United States used to provide about $70 million per year toward UNFPA programs to protect the health and lives of women and girls in developing countries. More than half of those funds were used for ‘life-saving humanitarian programs,’ said Dr. Natalia Kanem, the agency’s executive director. The Trump administration announced in 2017 it was cutting all funding to the agency. The move was seen as a gesture to American conservatives and anti-abortion activists, though UNFPA doesn’t provide abortions…” (4/10).

Devex: Minority groups excluded from global progress on SRHR, UNFPA report says
“Despite global gains in securing sexual and reproductive rights over the past 50 years, many population groups are still left behind, according to a report released Wednesday by the United Nations Population Fund. The ‘State of World Population 2019’ report shows that global fertility rates have roughly halved since the agency began operations in 1969. But it also highlights how reproductive rights remain inaccessible to many, including more than 200 million women worldwide who want to prevent a pregnancy but don’t have access to contraceptives. ‘The lack of this power — which influences so many other facets of life, from education to income to safety — leaves women unable to shape their own futures,’ UNFPA Executive Director Natalia Kanem said in a press release…” (Jerving, 4/10).