Jane
Keeney Roberts, a retired teacher and tennis coach and the mother of two children,
cocreated 34 Million Friends of UNFPA in 2002, which has so far helped raise more
than $2 million for the United Nations Population Fund. Jane Roberts had never
met Lois Abraham, the other co-founder, but both women were outraged when they
heard that the US Congress withdrew 34 milllion dollars of funding for UNFPA that
had already been approved for the 2002 budget because of a false allegation that
money from the UN Population Fund goes to Chinese government agencies that force
women to have abortions. Outraged, Jane Roberts and Lois Abraham began a letter
writing campaign urging others concerned about this decision to send in $1 each
to 34 Million Friends of UNFPA. They pointed out that without this promised funding
there would be: 2 million unwanted pregnancies per year, nearly 800,000 abortions,
4,700 maternal deaths, and 77,000 infant and child deaths. More than 100,000 Americans
have contributed so far to this effort raising more than $2 million. For their
dedication to this humanitarian effort, Jane Roberts and Lois Abraham were nominated
for the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize as part of the 1000 Women for the Nobel Peace Prize
project.
