Appropriations Bill Includes Life-Saving Reproductive Health Provisions

Washington, DC - June 11, 2007

 With its Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs’ approval of the fiscal year 2008 appropriations bill, the House of Representatives took a significant step toward grounding U.S. aid for family planning and HIV/AIDS relief in sound evidence.  The appropriations bill contains several important family planning and reproductive health provisions, including: (1) granting the president the authority to waive the abstinence-until-marriage earmark under PEPFAR that requires at least one-third of U.S. HIV/AIDS prevention funding be limited to abstinence-until-marriage programs; and (2) an exemption of U.S. contraceptives shipments to the developing world from the restrictions of the Global Gag Rule .  PAI urges Congress to approve these important changes to the destructive reproductive health policies of the Bush Administration. 

The House bill provides an overall funding level of $441 million for U.S. international family planning and reproductive health programs through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).  This represents a $116 million increase above the President’s request but only a slight increase over current levels.  The bill also includes $40 million for the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), subject to existing Kemp-Kasten restrictions, but it requires more detailed reporting by the Bush Administration in the event that it again invokes Kemp-Kasten and withholds funds from UNFPA.  In addition, any funds withheld from UNFPA would have to be reprogrammed to bilateral Family Planning/Reproductive Health activities through USAID. 

 

Overturning the abstinence-until-marriage earmark in PEPFAR would make the program more effective in curbing the spread of HIV/AIDS.  According to two congressionally mandated studies on the effectiveness of PEPFAR – from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) and the National Institute of Medicine (IOM) – this spending requirement undermines U.S. efforts to prevent new HIV infections by hindering the development of comprehensive, integrated HIV prevention programs that address vulnerabilities unique to local populations. 

 

The contraceptives provision will be crucial to meeting the ever rising demand for and shortages of contraceptives in developing nations. Since the Global Gag Rule was reinstated by President Bush in 2001, shipments of U.S.-donated contraceptives have been stopped to 20 developing countries in Africa, Asia and the Middle East.  Increasing U.S. donations of contraceptives and condoms is essential to reducing unintended pregnancies, abortion and sexually transmitted infections such as HIV/AIDS.  Filling the unmet need for contraceptives would avert 52 million unwanted pregnancies each year, preventing an estimated 29 million abortions, 142,000 pregnancy-related deaths – and 505,000 children from losing their mothers.

 

The full Appropriations Committee will vote on June 12th, and the bill is scheduled to move quickly to the House Floor the week of June 18th.   Congress has the opportunity to save tens of thousands of lives and improve the quality of life for countless more women and children.  The House bill is a good start to ensuring that reproductive health policies – including those that address HIV prevention – are grounded in evidence and address the needs of women and their families.

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.