American Notes Foreign Aid

Between 1979 and 1984, 53 million abortions were performed in China. Many occurred during the last three months of pregnancy and against the women's wishes. Antiabortion activists in and out of the Reagan Administration have long fought to stop the use of American dollars for such programs, and last week they scored a victory. The Agency for International Development said it would withhold $10 million from the United Nations Fund for Population Activities, which has sent money to China for birth control. Instead, said M. Peter McPherson, the agency's administrator, the money would be "reprogrammed" toward family planning services in other countries.

Jack Kemp, a conservative Republican who is a strong backer of the agency's move, said that withholding money was a way to expose China's "demonstrably bad practices." So far, experts do not believe that the action will seriously harm relations between the U.S. and China, which denies that its methods are coercive. But a bigger threat lies ahead. Unless it withdraws from China or persuades Peking to change its policies, the U.N. agency will not get another dime from the U.S. That would cut its budget by $46 million and curtail its population-control efforts.