EU Replaces Cash Denied to UN Family Planning by US

The European Union is to fill the gap left by the US decision to stop funding the UN's family planning organization with €32m (£20.3m) aid for sexual and reproductive health work in 22 countries, the Guardian has learned.

The aid, to be announced later this week, will replace the $34m US contribution to the UN Population Fund (UNPFA), which helps poorer countries with family planning and advice on population control, health and sexual matters.

The state department announced on Monday that George Bush was ending payment. The president has been under pressure from anti-abortionist groups to stop funding bodies which give advice on abortion.

The European commission will send the money to projects run by the UNPFA and the International Planned Parenthood Federation.

Poul Nielson, the development commissioner, promised last year that the EU would step in when the White House announced it that it would cut its funding of organizations it suspected of encouraging abortions or sterilization.

"The losers from this decision will be some of the most vulnerable people on earth," a commission spokesman said yesterday.

The EU's development policy gives an important place to reproductive health education, including awareness of Aids, as an essential part of the fight against poverty.

The countries benefiting from its aid, ranging from Burkina Faso to Zambia, have childbirth mortality rates of 500 to 1,800 in 100,000 births.

Funds will be allotted to pre and post-natal care, pregnancy counseling, and abortion where there is risk to the mother. About 80,000 women die every year from unsafe abortions.

The EU, worried by transatlantic disputes on defense, trade and food safety, and a general US trend towards withdrawing from multinational cooperation, was angered by the withdrawal of funding, describing it as "irresponsible and counter-productive.

Demands for action were led by Clare Short, the UK international development secretary, who wanted to avoid a public row with Washington but was anxious for the EU to play an active role in global population policy.