NEWS & VIEWS
from a CATHOLIC perspective

      NEW YORK (CWNews.com) - A report by two pro-family groups on Thursday said the United Nations' Population Fund (UNFPA) may be violating the human rights of Kosovar refugees and endangering their health through its campaign to provide them with abortion and birth control.

      The Population Research Institute (PRI) and Catholic Family & Human Rights Institute (CAFHRI) reported that shipments of UNFPA's "reproductive health kits" have bumped basic medical supplies and even food from supply convoys to refugee camps.

      Dr. Gezim Bashka, head of maternity services in the Kukes hospital, told the Italian ANSA press agency that she was short of antibiotics, sheets, and serum. "I don't want to seem ungrateful," she said, "but much superfluous material has arrived. Today a shipment of birth-control. Explain to them that we need other things."

      The report also said women from the camps were being transported to abortion clinics and maternity hospitals equipped with sterilization and abortion equipment. PRI said it fears the refugee women, who rely upon the camps for everything, including food and protection, may feel pressured to make the trip to these centers. They also reported widespread use of so-called "emergency contraception," and that the women are being told it does not end an "established pregnancy." In reality, the pills abort an unborn child in the first hours after conception.

      UNFPA has "constructed a social marketingâ campaign to fabricate demand for 'reproductive health services' among a 'captive audience' of refugee women," said Steve Mosher, president of PRI. "Given the trauma of these helpless women, the filthy conditions of the camps and of the 'reproductive health facilities,' set up by UNFPA, we are concerned about the health, safety, and the rights of Kosovar women."

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