Family Planning Funds Preserved

Washington, DC - November 14, 2005

PAI lauds Congress for preserving the current funding level of $440 million for international family planning and reproductive health (FP/RH) programs in the fiscal year (FY) 2006 Foreign Operations spending bill passed last week by the House and Senate. Although the approved amount is higher than his original request of $425 million, President Bush is expected to sign the bill into law.

Disappointingly – but not surprisingly – the Senate-passed provision repealing the destructive Mexico City Policy (also known as the Global Gag Rule) was removed during House and Senate deliberations over the final bill. Also rejected was the Senate’s revision of the Kemp-Kasten amendment, which the Bush administration has used for the last four years to withhold all U.S. contributions – totaling more than $130 million – to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). The Senate’s revision of Kemp-Kasten stipulated that organizations providing voluntary family planning services should not be punished for working in countries where the government’s family planning policies are coercive. As a result of the revision being rejected, the $34 million UNFPA contribution provided for in the FY 2006 bill will likely be withheld by the Bush administration, depriving countless women in some of the poorest regions of the world of desperately needed reproductive health care.

While maintaining funding levels for FP/RH programs in 2006 is a success in light of the current political environment, U.S. FP/RH funding has fallen dramatically – about 35 percent – over the last decade. This is the case despite the fact that the number of women of reproductive age has increased by 225 million in the last ten years alone, and maternal mortality currently accounts for 500,000 deaths each year.

The solution to reducing maternal mortality is clear: women must have access to voluntary family planning and related reproductive health services. Fortunately, legislation (H.R. 4188) recently introduced by Reps. Betty McCollum (D-MN), Chris Shays (R-CT), James Oberstar (D-MN), and Jim Ramstad (R-MN) would strengthen U.S. international family planning programs through increased funding. This bipartisan legislation is an important reaffirmation of the political commitment needed to reach the millions of women at risk of dying from unintended and at-risk pregnancies and deliveries.

Population Action International (PAI) works to improve individual well-being and preserve global resources by mobilizing political and financial support for population, family planning and reproductive health policies and programs.