The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) will fall far short of the pro-abortion goals outlined at the 1994 international population conference in Cairo because of "a lack of funding and political will," United Nations representatives warned Tuesday.
Speaking at a follow-up conference, pro-abortion UNFPA Executive Director Nafis Sadik noted that "[w]hile many national population programs have been implemented since the Cairo conference, millions of people still don't have access to [abortion]," in part because countries have failed to produce their funding commitments.
In 1994, countries pledged $5.7 billion toward the effort to stem the global population by promoting abortion among other measures, but Sadik said that only $2.8 billion has actually been contributed toward the year 2000 goal.
Although five countries have approached fulfillment of their spending pledges -- Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Norway and the Netherlands -- Sadik said that "[m]ost others are far short of their commitments." The United States' funding for the pro-abortion program was ended completely by Congress recently. The Inter Press Service reports that a five-year review to examine the pro-abortion Program of Action, the UNFPA initiative to address population, is scheduled for this February in the Netherlands (Knight, Inter Press Service, 12/1/98).