US has withdrawn funding for the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), an agency that promotes family planning in more than 150 countries, the BBC reported.

"This determination was made based on the fact that China's family planning policies still involve the use of coercive abortion and involuntary sterilization, and UNFPA partners on family planning activities with the Chinese government agency responsible for these coercive policies," the US state department said.

The UNFPA said it "regrets the decision" and had not broken any laws.

A statement by the UNFPA said that this decision is based on the erroneous claim that UNFPA "supports, or participates in the management of, a program of coercive abortion or involuntary sterilization" in China. 

UNFPA refutes this claim, as all of its work promotes the human rights of individuals and couples to make their own decisions, free of coercion or discrimination, it added.

Source: MENA