[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 115 (Monday, July 14, 2008)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1451-E1452]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  UPHOLDING THE KEMP-KASTEN AMENDMENT

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. ROBERT B. ADERHOLT

                               of alabama

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, July 14, 2008

  Mr. ADERHOLT. Madam Speaker, I want to thank my colleague from New 
Jersey, the Honorable Chris Smith for his work on this important issue. 
It is a privilege to work alongside him in the fight for the lives of 
the unborn children in our country and around the world.
  I want to remind this body and the American public about the need to 
spend taxpayer funds in a responsible manner by upholding the 
provisions of the Kemp-Kasten Amendment.
  According to the Congressional Research Service, ``In 13 of the past 
22 years the United States has not contributed to the [United Nations 
Population Fund] as a result of executive branch determinations that 
UNFPA's program in China was in violation of the Kemp-Kasten amendment 
banning U.S. aid to organizations involved in the management of 
coercive family planning programs.''
  On June 26, 2008, President Bush issued a determination that because 
China continues its policy of coercive abortions and forced 
sterilizations, the provisions of the Kemp-Kasten Amendment continue to 
prohibit the funding of UNFPA. Nearly $7 million of the $39.6 million 
appropriated for this organization in the Fiscal Year 2008 State and 
Foreign Operations Appropriations Act will now be transferred to the 
Global Health and Child Survival account.
  U.S. foreign aid is meant to help those in less fortunate 
circumstances with the generosity and goodwill of America; it must not 
be tainted with coerced abortion, forced sterilizations, and draconian 
family-limiting policies. We seek to eliminate human rights abuses, not 
promote them under the guise of our aid.
  Since China initiated its one-child policy in 1980, countless women 
have been traumatized and terrorized by their government. A 2005 
article in Time magazine by Hannah Beech, detailed one family's 
situation: ``When family-planning officials came to fetch [Hu] in May 
for a forced sterilization, [she] escaped with her two daughters to her 
parents' home in another village. Several days later, seven officials 
showed up, she says, grabbed her younger child and shoved the girl into 
a car. Afraid that her daughter would be abducted, Hu jumped into the 
vehicle with them. The car drove to the local family-planning clinic, 
where, Hu says, nurses threw her onto an operating table. `Other people 
were fine after their operations, but it hurt me so much, I could 
barely stand up,' says Hu, 33. Two weeks later, doctors operated again 
and promised things would heal better. But even today, Hu doubles over 
in pain after just a few steps. `They told me they were doing this for 
my own good,' says Hu. `But they have ruined my life.' ''
  In April 2007, National Public Radio (NPR) uncovered evidence of 
dozens of forced abortions in southwest China, even as late as 9 months 
into the pregnancy. According to the NPR report, one family had one 
child and believed that--like many other couples--they

[[Page E1452]]

could pay a fine and keep their second baby. The wife was 7 months 
pregnant when 10 family planning officials visited her at home. The 
husband says they were threatened and told that if the wife did not go 
to the hospital for an abortion that the officials would take her 
themselves. ``I was scared,'' the wife told NPR. ``The hospital was 
full of women who'd been brought in forcibly. There wasn't a single 
spare bed. The family planning people said forced abortions and forced 
sterilizations were both being carried out. We saw women being pulled 
in one by one.''
  Madam Speaker, U.S. policy must remain in place that protects women 
and their children. We cannot morally participate in and fund programs 
that ruin the lives of these women and unborn children. As a member of 
the House Committee on Appropriations, I will continue to fight to 
maintain the protections offered by the Kemp-Kasten Amendment, and I 
look forward to working with my colleagues such as Representative Smith 
on these issues.

                          ____________________