WASHINGTON, July 22: The United States announced on Monday it would divert 34 million dollars set aside this year for the UN Population Fund to the US government’s own development arm, accusing the UN agency of assisting Chinese in its abortion programmes.

Rumours have swirled for weeks that anti-abortion activists had convinced President George W. Bush the UN agency backed China’s one-child policy, blamed for involuntary sterilizations.

The agency vehemently denies this. But State Department spokesman Richard Boucher told a news briefing that the Bush administration had concluded the UN agency was in violation of a US law barring payment of funds to any organization assisting abortion programmes.

Rep. Nita Lowey of New York, ranking Democrat on an important foreign policy spending subcommittee, said the decision was “an absolute outrage” and blamed it on an effort to please conservatives ahead of congressional elections in November.

“Apparently, no price is too high for this administration when it comes to political payoffs,” she said in a statement.

“Not only does this decision endanger the lives of poor women and children around the world, it breaks a trust by backtracking on a deal with Congress,” she added.—Reuters