UN Secretary-General António Guterres voiced deep regret [press release] regarding US decision to cut financial support for the UN population agency. According to Guterres, the decision is based on an inaccurate depiction of the nature and importance of the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) [official website]. Guterres says the funding cut could have devastating effects on the health of vulnerable women, female children, and their families. The US State Department [official website] cut funding back in March after allegations that the UNFPA supports, or participates in the management of, a program in China of “coercive abortion or involuntary sterilization.” The UNFPA denies these allegations [press release] and states it works to promote human rights.

Reproductive rights [JURIST backgrounder] continue to be a controversial issue in the US. In February the US House of Representatives recently approved a bill [JURIST report] that would overturn the Obama administration’s rule prohibiting states from denying federal funding to Planned Parenthood and passed a bill [JURIST commentary] that makes permanent restrictions on federal funding abortion. That same month the Florida Supreme Court [official website] blocked [JURIST report] enforcement of the Mandatory Delay Law, which requires that a woman wait for 24 hours after receiving counseling from a physician before she can have an abortion. Also in February the Pennsylvania Senate [official website] approved SB 3 [JURIST report], putting Pennsylvania in line to become the seventeenth state to pass a bill banning abortions past 20 weeks.