Surprised? I'm Not

By Linda A. Prussen-Razzano
Tlrazz@cyberramp.net
Featured Rightgrrl April 1999
December 1, 1999

Despite our significant financial, military, and personal outlays during the Serbian engagement, our involvement in several military "peace-keeping" operations world-wide, and the gratis perks we afford members of the United Nations on American soil, the United Nations bookkeepers insisted that America owed $1 Billion in dues. Presidential candidate Dr. Alan Keyes, during recent candidate debate, urged America to demand a second look at the books.

It didn't happen.

Congress acquiesced and made allowances for the dues, with one minor caveat; it disallowed a portion of funding for "family planning" programs unless a presidential waiver was signed. Should the President implement the waiver, all but $12.5 million would be released to the U.N.

This was originally hailed as a minor victory for Pro-Life advocates and Conservatives of all stripes. Quite simply, the United Nation's "Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development" forces population control methods on women in impoverished countries. The methods employed range from coerced sterilization, abortions, and womb-suctioning for women that miss a period (on the off chance that they might be pregnant). Questionable and dangerous methods of "population control" have been used against women in Bangladesh, India, Peru, and Pakistan. Women who refuse these methods are denied humanitarian assistance for their existing children. Women who experience allergic reactions are expected to pay for a reversal of the procedure. Women who suffered allergic reactions have died because they were too poor to have implants removed. (Sense of House Regarding Family Planning Programs, House of Representatives, March 23, 1999).

House records reveal a prime example of these practices, documented on March 16, 1997, by The Sunday Times of India: "Dr. Biral Mullick has begun sterilizing women from Calcutta and surrounding villages with quinacrine, even though the World Health Organization and female health groups warn that the method is unapproved and risky. According to the Sunday Times of India, poor women in Calcutta are initially lured into trying the procedure because of its affordability--the paper quotes a price of 35 rupees--and relative ease of use. `What these women do not know,' the Times reports, `is that they are guinea pigs being used to test the efficacy of the drug; that they have been subjected a method not approved by any drug regulatory agency in the world.' "

"According to Puneet Budim, an Indian gynecologist, none of these women in Mullick's and other clinics in the country are told they are part of a trial or what the risks might be. She alleges that they come into the clinics looking for a Copper T intrauterine device but walk out burned by the acid the tablets create when inserted into the womb. `Scores of private doctors and NGO's across the country, including a prominent doctor politician from Delhi, are involved in this unethical practice,' Budim said. `It's a very disturbing development.' (The Sunday Times of India, 16 March 1997)

With the ink barely dry on the budget deal, on November 30, 1999, President Clinton chose to exercise his "waiver" option and allow funding for the United Nations Family Planning program.

Is anyone surprised? I'm not.

Please remember, this is the same man who, in January of 1994, allowed John Huang to gain a top secret security clearance without a background check. This is the same man who, on February 4, 1994, lifted trade sanctions on Viet Nam in violation of his promise to receive a "full accounting" of our POW/MIAs. This is the same man who, on February 2, 1996, signed a waiver to allow Poly Technologies, a Chinese front company, to import 100,000 weapons into the United States despite President Clinton's own highly touted gun ban. This is the same man who, on February 6, 1996, signed waivers allowing the Chicoms to purchase additional satellites from us, despite continued evidence that they were the largest proliferator of weapons of mass destruction in the world. This is the same man who, on September 18, 1996, orchestrated the massive land grab known as the "Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument" scam, robbing Andelex Corporation of years of work and millions in research. This is the same man who, on May 10, 1999, granted a special waiver for China to purchase "satellite fuels and separation systems for the U.S.-origin Iridium commercial communications satellite program," despite clear and compelling evidence that the Chinese were purposely stealing our dual-use technology to boost their military might. Did Americans actually believe that he would care about the impoverished and trapped women of the world, particularly when he has continually acted against the best interests of his own citizens?

I didn't. From this man, I expected nothing less.

This article copyright © 1999 by Linda A. Prussen-Razzano and may not be reproduced in any form without the express written consent of its author. All rights reserved.

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