In 1979, China announced a one-child-per-couple family planning policy. That policy continues to this day. Evidence over the years confirms again and again that the policy entails coercive practices. The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has been deeply involved in the China program from the beginning. As a result, in 1985 Congress approved a law called the Kemp-Kasten Amendment that gave the president the authority to deny funding to any organization that he determined was supporting or participating in a program of coercive abortion or involuntary sterilization. All presidents, except President Clinton, and now President Obama, invoked the Kemp-Kasten Amendment to deny funding to the UNFPA for its support of the China program.

On January 23, 2009, in his statement on overturning the Mexico City Policy, President Obama said that he intended to work with Congress to restore funding to the UNFPA. And on March 24, 2009, the U.S. Department of State issued a press release stating it intended to contribute $50 million to the UNFPA in 2009.