Topic: CNSNews.com
Penny Starr uncritically writes in an Oct. 10 CNSNews.com article:
Representative Chris Smith (R-N.J.) said at the Heritage Foundation on Thursday that despite his and other congressmens’ efforts to hold Communist China accountable for its one-child, forced abortion policy, President Barack Obama and his administration are not only ignoring the policy but are advancing the “brutal program.”
“I respectfully submit that not only is the Obama administration turning a blind eye to the atrocities being committed under the one-child policy, but it is even contributing financial support--contrary to U.S. law--to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA),” Smith said in a keynote address at the event.
“Under Presidents Reagan, Bush and Bush, Mr. Obama, unlike them, has thus far provided $227 million in tax payer funds--grant money--to the UNFPA, an organization that supports, plans, implements, defends--and maybe for international audiences this is most important--whitewashes the Chinese government’s brutal program.”Smith, who is on the House Foreign Affairs Committee and chairs its subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights and International Organization, was referring to his and other Republicans’ 1984 legislation that became law as a part of a foreign aid bill that prohibits funding organizations like UNFPA that support China’s one-child and forced abortion policy.
If Starr had bothered to fact-check Smith's statements, she would have found plenty of doube about his claim that UNFPA supported "forced abortion" in China. As UNFPA itself points out:
The State Department team investigated UNFPA-supported projects in China and submitted a report in May stating, based on what we heard, saw, and read, we find no evidence that UNFPA has knowingly supported or participated in the management of a program of coercive abortion or involuntary sterilization in the PRC [People's Republic of China]. Indeed, UNFPA has registered its strong opposition to such practices.
NARAL Pro-Choice America notes that Smith's claim is "misinformation" spread by "anti-choice lawmakers" seeking to deny funding for family-planning programs.
This information is easily found with a simple Google search. Either Starr couldn't be bothered to do that search, or she decided to suppress that information because it conflicted with her and her employer's anti-abortion crusade.
That makes Starr either dumb or dishonest. Either way, she's a lousy reporter.
