Exclusive: Senate Democrats introduce bill to protect UN Population Fund

A group of U.S. Democratic lawmakers have introduced legislation to protect the United Nations Population Fund, or UNFPA — an agency that’s been devastated by the Trump administration’s cuts to foreign assistance this year. “This bill restores a common-sense, bipartisan approach: supporting voluntary, rights-based family planning and maternal health while ensuring full compliance with U.S. law,” Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said in a statement to Devex. The Support UNFPA Funding Act would allocate $74 million annually for the United Nations agency, which is focused on sexual and reproductive health across the world. It would do so for both the 2026 and 2027 fiscal years, the first of which began on Oct. 1, 2025, and open the door to additional funding for UNFPA in the years after. “This legislation restores this funding and recognizes the critical role this aid has in saving lives, supporting women and girls, and advancing global security and stability — and by doing so, keeping Americans safe,” said Sen. Tim Kaine, the ranking member of the foreign relations subcommittee responsible for human rights and global women’s issues. Kaine and Shaheen were two of 16 lawmakers who endorsed the bill, including Vermont’s Bernie Sanders, Delaware’s Chris Coons, and New Jersey’s Cory Booker. But this piece of legislation — along with a corresponding bill in the House of Representatives — faces an uphill battle. UNFPA has long been a lightning rod for Republican opposition, and since 1985, every Republican president has slashed its funding, including Donald Trump. “The United Nations Population Fund is a globalist, Orwellian, propaganda machine,” wrote Rep. Chip Roy, a Republican from Texas, while reintroducing a bill to block funding from UNFPA earlier this year. Roy — and many other Republican lawmakers — have long accused the agency of participating in “coercive abortion practices” in China. In 2002, the State Department found that while there was “no evidence” that UNFPA engaged in such practices in China, because UNFPA continued to partner with China’s national family planning agency, it could be seen as supporting China’s “coercive policies.” It’s an allegation that UNFPA has rejected for more than two decades, but days after taking office, it became Trump’s basis for defunding the agency once again. “PRESIDENT TRUMP PROMISED AND DELIVERED,” reads a White House fact sheet dated Jan. 25, 2025, which details the steps the president took to “prevent taxpayer funding of abortion,” in his first five days in office. That included cutting off all funding to UNFPA, which the White House claimed supported “coercive abortion and forced sterilization." “UNFPA refutes this claim, as all of its work promotes the human rights of individuals and couples to make their own decisions, free of coercion or discrimination,” the organization wrote in a statement, which was released several months later. But by then, the U.S. government had sliced away nearly $377 million from the agency, canceling nearly 50 projects across the world. In Yemen, that meant the shuttering of 44 health facilities, 24 women’s spaces, and 14 mobile protection teams — slashing services for 1.5 million women and girls. In Afghanistan, the cuts resulted in the closure of 21 health care centers. And in Sudan, UNFPA’s losses meant 200,000 women were left without reproductive health care — at the same time that rape was increasingly being reported as a weapon of war. The bill outlines those losses and asserts several new policies for the United States: for one, that “the ability of individuals to freely determine whether, when, and with whom to have children … supports both human rights and sustainable development,” and for another, that providing support to UNFPA aligns with the country’s interests in promoting global health. It also writes into law that Congress believes UNFPA “does not support nor participate” in “coercive abortion or involuntary sterilization in any country” — three policies that Republican lawmakers are likely to overwhelmingly reject. That language, explained a congressional aide involved with the legislation, would restrict the U.S. government from barring UNFPA from funds due to the Kemp-Kasten amendment, which has been used to withhold cash from the agency for decades. While framed as ensuring U.S. dollars do not fund any organizations that support involuntary abortion or sterilization, it’s only ever been applied to UNFPA, according to an analysis by KFF. “If we’re looking realistically, I’m not optimistic that in this Congress, the [bill] moves,” said the aide, who spoke to Devex on the condition of anonymity. “But we felt it was really, really important to put a strong marker in the sand, and to say we remain committed to this.” The bill is meant to complement legislation introduced by Democratic Rep. Chrissy Houlahan in April. Houlahan — a representative from Pennsylvania — introduced such legislation during Trump’s first term in 2019. Houlahan reintroduced the bill this year, asserting that the Trump administration’s suspension of funding had led to “unnecessary death and suffering for pregnant mothers and their newborns.” It’s since been referred to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, where it’s been stalled since March. The Senate bill is likely to follow a similar trajectory, the congressional aide said. “But that doesn’t mean we won’t push for it, and ask for it to be considered,” they said, adding that Sen. Shaheen is also pushing for UNFPA funding through congressional appropriations processes. “UNFPA appreciates the support of Senator Shaheen, and the partnership and support of the American people for UNFPA's lifesaving work on behalf of women and girls,” said Sarah Craven, the interim director of UNFPA’s division for external relations.