Seeing is Believing: The Ethiopia Congressional Study Tour

In collaboration with partners around the world, PAI works to build political and financial support for family planning and reproductive health programs in the developing world. A key part of these education and advocacy efforts in the U.S. are PAI’s pioneering “Congressional Study Tours,” which enable Members of the U.S. Congress and their staff to see first-hand these programs in action. These trips help U.S. policymakers understand why U.S. investments in family planning and reproductive health (FP/RH) programs are so important—to individuals, communities, and the planet as a whole—and they highlight the impact on the ground of harmful U.S. policies such as the Global Gag Rule.

Since 1998, PAI has taken several Members of Congress and about 70 staffers to see FP/RH programs in countries such as Bolivia, Ghana, Guatemala, Mexico, and Uganda. In February, PAI conducted its most recent Congressional Study Tour, this time to Ethiopia. Headed by U.S. Rep. Russ Carnahan (D-MO), a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, the bipartisan delegation also included legislative aides for the offices of Reps. James Oberstar (D-MN) and Mark Kirk (R-IL), as well as Mrs. (Judge) Debra Carnahan, a former member of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America’s Board of Directors.

During their week in Ethiopia, the PAI-led delegation spent most of the time in rural areas of the Amhara region north of the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa. The group conducted numerous site visits to family planning, reproductive health and HIV/AIDS projects at private clinics, public hospitals, youth centers, and rural community-based extension programs. The delegation also met with U.S. Ambassador Donald Yamamoto, senior staff with the USAID mission, and officials with both the national and regional governments.

The trip was a truly eye-opening experience and underscored the many linkages between family planning and the host of development challenges facing this impoverished nation – including HIV/AIDS, maternal and infant mortality, child marriage, girls’ education, and environmental degradation.

Located in the strategic Horn of Africa region, Ethiopia is the second most populous nation in Africa after Nigeria. The country’s population has doubled in size—to 77 million—since 1981and is projected to double again (to more than 155 million) by 2045. Health indicators in Ethiopia are dire: average life expectancy is around 50 years and AIDS is the second leading cause of death. Each Ethiopian woman gives birth to 6 children in her lifetime on average, with one-third of births unplanned and less than 10 percent of births attended by trained personnel. Use of modern contraceptives remains very low (14% of married couples), although high demand is present: more than one-third of married couples desire to space or limit childbirth but are not using a modern form of contraception.

Tragically, the Global Gag Rule is hindering Ethiopian women’s access to family planning and related reproductive health care. In fact, Ethiopia’s two leading providers of family planning services rejected the Global Gag Rule restrictions in late 2001 and, as a result, both lost U.S. funding, technical assistance, and donated contraceptive supplies.

PAI-sponsored Congressional Study Tours are invaluable for informing policymakers of the importance of U.S. support for FP/RH programs in poor, developing nations. More so than reports, newspaper articles, or videos, they personalize the implications of U.S. policies on FP/RH issues in other countries. Seeing really is believing.