The Moderate-led government has decided to increase aid to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), which works, among other things, on “safe abortions” in poor countries.
Minister for Development Cooperation Benjamin Dousa (M) claims that it is a “fundamental freedom issue” and therefore increases the funding of the UN body by almost €7 million to a total of €48 million for 2025.
The background is that the US aid agency USAID, on the orders of the Trump administration, has paused large parts of its activities and frozen foreign payments.
The Nordic Times has previously reported on how USAID has been central to the globalist propaganda war and how taxpayers’ money has been used to run advocacy campaigns and other subversive activities in a large number of countries.
– Every setback, not least now in the US, to women’s right to control their own bodies is a tragedy. Support for safe abortions is declining globally, which is why Sweden has chosen to increase its support through additional contributions to UNFPA. This will contribute to girls’ and women’s right to decide over their own bodies, maternal health care and increased access to safe abortion, says Benjamin Dousa.
– Banning abortion does not reduce the number of abortions. Instead, unsafe abortions put girls’ and women’s lives and health at risk, he continues.
Sweden should “fill the gaps”
Minister for Gender Equality Paulina Brandberg is also very pleased that the government is now launching an “abortion package”, and says it is “a question of equality and freedom”.
– Several countries are opposed to sex education, which is fundamental to providing knowledge about how the body works and how children are created, says Gudrun Brunegård, the Christian Democrats’ spokesperson on development policy.
– Opposing sex education has the opposite effect, more unplanned and unwanted pregnancies, with the risk of more unsafe and illegal abortions, risking the woman’s life. It is therefore important that Sweden covers the gaps that have arisen as far as possible, she says.
The Swedish government has previously said that it wants to help fill the “gaps” that have arisen when USAID has scaled down or frozen its activities. At the same time, it notes that neither Sweden nor any other country can completely fill the Americans’ “shoes””
In 2023, USAID’s annual budget was around USD 50 billion – and it is usually considered the world’s largest aid organization.
