The Bush administration has decided to withhold $34 million in funding from the U.N. Population Fund for the fourth consecutive year, saying the agency indirectly contributes to China's "coercive abortion" program, the AP/Long Island Newsday reports (AP/Long Island Newsday, 9/16). Since 2002, the Bush administration has withheld U.S. funding for the fund, saying that because the organization works in China, the fund indirectly supports the Chinese government's policy of coerced abortion to maintain its one-child-per-family population policy. The administration bars U.S. funding for international groups that support abortion -- even with their own funding -- through direct services, counseling or lobbying activities (Kaiser Daily Reproductive Health Report, 1/12). The administration's decision, which Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns disclosed in a letter sent to several senators, drew criticism from several House Democrats. Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.), who is fighting to resume the U.S. contribution to the fund, said Bush's "extreme right-wing base" is dictating the policy, causing hardship for women and children in the world's poorest nations. UNFPA Executive Director Thoraya Ahmed Obaid said the fund "works hard to end coercion by proving the efficacy and superiority of the voluntary approach to family planning over any other alternative." In a statement, Obaid noted that the fund receives support from 166 countries "that believe in strengthening (its) role as a leading voice for human rights in family planning, safe motherhood and AIDS prevention" (AP/Long Island Newsday, 9/16).