[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 11] [Extensions of Remarks] [Pages 14882-14883] [From the U.S. 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. [[Page 14883]] 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 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. ____________________