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Charity slams Bush administration over ‘political decision’

The administration of US President George W. Bush has penalized an international charity in Africa because of work it does in China, a step the group says is politically motivated and dangerous for poor African women and girls.

The State Department and the US Agency for International Development denied the charges but said on Thursday they had told six African governments to stop giving US-donated contraceptives to the British-based Marie Stopes International family planning organization for distribution to their needy populations.

The move affects Ghana, Malawi, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe and follows a determination by USAID that the organization is a major player in a UN program in China that the administration says promotes coerced abortion and sterilization.

“Given these circumstances, USAID made the policy decision to inform governments in these countries that it does not want USAID-funded commodities to be provided to Marie Stopes International,” the State Department, which oversees USAID, said in a statement.

The US does not give any direct assistance to the group but is a leading family planning health provider and one of several distributors of US-donated “contraceptive commodities,” including condoms and intrauterine devices, in some of Africa’s least developed countries.

Under US law, the government must withhold aid to agencies and groups found to support or participate in management of family planning programs abroad that involve abortion or coerced sterilization.

Marie Stopes International, one of the world’s largest family planning organizations, complained bitterly about the step, which it said was “purely political” and “dangerous” because it could result in more abortions, maternal deaths and health problems for poor African women and girls.

“Only 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,” it said. “This senseless decision is likely to have only one clear consequence: the death of African women and girls.”

The State Department and USAID denied the charge. They said the same amount of contraceptive supplies would be sent to the countries in question and they “will do everything possible” to make sure the contraceptives are distributed by other groups.
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