By ANTHONY DEUTSCH Associated Press Writer
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) -- Hillary Rodham Clinton took the podium at a U.N. population conference Tuesday to declare that all women should be allowed to make their own family planning choices and to praise those fighting China's restrictive one-child rule.
Mrs. Clinton was addressing 1,500 delegates from 180 countries in The Hague this week for the first major review of progress since a landmark 1994 U.N. population conference produced a 20-year plan to stem population growth and empower women worldwide.
``I hope we can agree first and foremost that government has no place in the personal decisions a woman makes about whether to bring a child into the world,'' the U.S. first lady said, to loud applause.
``That is a decision that should be made freely and responsibly without government coercion,'' Mrs. Clinton said, referring to governments who ban abortion outright, severely limit family planning services or -- like China -- enforce strict limits on family size.
Praising liberals in China, she spoke of ``new voices ... who are working to ensure that their country's family planning practices are voluntary and respectful of individual rights.''
She also backed an agreement reached between the Chinese government and the U.N. Population Fund, UNFPA, under which the agency has set up programs promoting voluntary family planning in 32 regions of China. Local officials in those area agreed to suspend their coercive family planning policies during the pilot programs.
Mrs. Clinton's comments were interpreted by delegates as a jab at the U.S. Congress, which last year withdrew funding for the UNFPA, in part because of its involvement in China. She said the Clinton administration was planning a $25 million donation to the agency in 2000.
Kate Michelman, president of the Washington, D.C.-based National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League, praised the 30-minute speech as a powerful vision for women's rights.
``She gives women around the world hope that their lives can be better,'' Michelman said.
Mrs. Clinton said all women should have access to family planning programs, including safe abortion. Even in countries where family planning services are off-limits and abortion is illegal, wealthy and well-connected women can still manage to get access to those services, the first lady said.
According to the World Health Organization, about 78,000 deaths a year are due to unsafe abortions compared to tens of millions of unborn babies kiled by "SAFE" abortions!.
``That's equal to a jet plane full of pregnant women every day,'' said Rahman Anika, a delegate from the Center for Reproductive Law and Policy.
The WHO also estimates there are 20 million unsafe abortions a year and about 585,000 woman die in childbirth annually.