Zealotry vs Lives
Washington, DC - June 18, 2007Family planning and reproductive health supporters are on the verge of a very important show-down in the House of Representatives on the issues of access to contraceptives and abstinence-only HIV/AIDS prevention restrictions. As early as Wednesday, June 20th, the full House may begin floor debate on the FY 2008 State-foreign operations appropriations bill, which includes the following breakthrough provisions:
- an exemption from the Global Gag Rule/Mexico City Policy (GGR) for contraceptives and condoms allowing foreign organizations otherwise ineligible for U.S. assistance under the GGR to receive U.S. government-donated contraceptives and condoms; and
- a provision that nullifies the earmark that requires that at least one-third of bilateral HIV/AIDS prevention funding be spent on "abstinence-until-marriage" programs.
In addition, the bill provides $441 million for family planning and reproductive health programs, a very slight increase over current levels but a $116 million increase above the President’s request. The bill also furnishes a U.S. contribution of $40 million to the UN Population Fund, subject to long-standing Kemp-Kasten restrictions that has allowed President Bush to withhold U.S. funding to UNFPA for the last five years. However, new language in the bill seeks to ensure a more thorough and transparent review by the President in making his determination on whether or not to fund UNFPA.
Not everyone is excited about these potential policy improvements, however. The Global Gag Rule puts women at increased risk of unintended pregnancy due to lack of modern contraceptives and services. If clinic shelves are empty, how can women and their partners achieve their stated goal of planning their families?
Since the reinstatement of the Global Gag Rule in 2001, shipments of contraceptives have been stopped to 20 developing countries – a tragic consequence of a misguided policy. In Ethiopia, clinics immediately fell short of condoms and contraceptives after passage of the Global Gag Rule. They appealed to the government for help, but supply shipments were inconsistent and couldn’t keep up with demand. Currently, 1 in every 14 Ethiopian women will die of pregnancy-related causes—and many of these women had not planned to become pregnant in the first place. In Ghana, the Global Gag Rule resulted in a loss of contraceptives and funding for community health workers. As a result, the Planned Parenthood Association of Ghana (PPAG) began treating nearly twice as many women for complications from unsafe abortion as they had the previous year, before the Gag Rule had been reinstated. That doesn’t sound like a policy that is preventing abortion – let alone improving reproductive health in these countries.
Members of Congress should oppose efforts to remove the contraceptive provision and should support overturning the abstinence-only earmark, thereby demonstrating their commitment to reducing unintended pregnancies, reducing abortion, and preventing sexually transmitted infections, including HIV/AIDS.
For most American women and men on both sides of the abortion debate, access to contraceptives is a basic human right. Why should that be any different for the millions of women and men in the developing world?
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.
