PAI Seeks Answers to Proposed Budget Cuts for Family Planning

In 1965, a bipartisan group of House and Senate members teamed together to launch U.S. assistance for international family planning in recognition of the fact that family planning assistance was essential to reducing poverty, hunger and environmental degradation and improving maternal and child health. Thanks to that pioneering U.S. leadership, the quality of life has improved for millions of women and children, and population growth rates have decreased to more sustainable levels in many parts of the world.

Despite the proven track record of success – and popularity – of family planning assistance, your budget for fiscal year 2007 calls for major cuts in these programs. In fact, your budget request would equal a staggering 49% reduction in U.S. funding since 1995. This is despite the fact that one-half of the world’s population is under the age of 25 and 200 million women lack access to the contraceptives they desire to plan and space childbirth.

Today when adjusted for inflation, U.S. international family planning assistance has decreased by 35% since 1995. Since 1995, the number of reproductive-age women in the developing world has increased by almost a quarter billion. How do you justify such dramatic reductions in funding, given the rapidly-increasing demand for contraceptives and other family planning services?

Each year, an estimated 80 million unwanted pregnancies occur worldwide; half of these end in abortion. Experiences from countries around the world prove that abortion rates decrease when access to contraceptives increases. For example, in Russia between 1988 and 2001, modern contraceptive use increased by 74% and the abortion rate declined by 61%. Why is reducing the number of unwanted pregnancies and abortions no longer a priority for your administration?

A recent blue-ribbon task force report sponsored by the Council on Foreign Relations underscores the importance of U.S. investments to help slow rapid population growth in Africa. The report concluded that “all the programs the United States supports on food security, employment, empowerment of women, achieving universal primary education, and economic growth may well falter if serious attention is not given once again to population.” In light of its importance, why do you want to cut such effective assistance?

U.S. funding for international family planning programs is critical in order to improve the health and well-being of millions of women and families in some of the poorest regions of the world. Your budget request would be a tragic step backward for these life-saving programs.

Sincerely Concerned,

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.