The Kemp-Kasten Amendment: History and Application

The Trump administration invoked the Kemp-Kasten amendment on May 8, 2025, to withhold fiscal year 2025 funding for the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), blocking $32.5 million in core congressional appropriations intended for the agency’s global reproductive health initiatives.

The Kemp-Kasten amendment, first enacted by Congress in 1985 as part of annual appropriations language, prohibits U.S. Funding for any organization determined by the president to support or participate in managing a program of coercive abortion or involuntary sterilization.

Although Congress later restored the same $32.5 million amount for fiscal year 2026, administration officials signaled intent to again withhold those funds, reigniting debate over the amendment’s application and impact on international health programs.

While the law contains no explicit mention of UNFPA, successive administrations have applied it to the agency based on allegations regarding its activities in China—claims that UNFPA and multiple U.S. Government investigations have consistently rejected as unfounded.

UNFPA officials have emphasized that its function in China focuses exclusively on voluntary maternal health and family planning services, noting that the agency has no role in coercive practices.

The amendment’s invocation has become a recurring flashpoint in U.S. Foreign aid policy, often aligning with shifts in presidential administration and reigniting discussions about the intersection of legislative authority, executive interpretation and global reproductive health access.

Under current law, any U.S. Funding withheld from UNFPA is to be made available for other family planning, maternal health, and reproductive health activities, though Congress rescinded (permanently canceled) fiscal year 2025 funding appropriated for UNFPA as part of a broader foreign aid rescission package requested by the President.

The Kemp-Kasten amendment is a provision of U.S. Law, first enacted by Congress in 1985 and included in appropriations language annually, that states that no U.S. Funds may be made available to “any organization or program which, as determined by the president of the United States, supports or participates in the management of a program of coercive abortion or involuntary sterilization.”

Kemp-Kasten has often been used, as determined by presidents along party lines, to withhold U.S. Funding to UNFPA since the mid-1990s, reflecting ongoing tensions over the agency’s international reproductive health work.

UNFPA, the lead U.N. Agency focused on global population and reproductive health, continues to provide essential services in over 150 countries, including maternal health care, voluntary family planning, and programs to end gender-based violence and harmful practices such as female genital mutilation.