The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) provides international leadership on population issues and is a key source of financial assistance for family planning and reproductive health programs in poor countries. Restoring U.S. funding for UNFPA programs is crucial to improving the health and lives of women and their families and to addressing demographic trends and promoting sustainable development.

Over the last two years, the architecture of U.S. foreign assistance has undergone an unprecedented restructuring. At the same time, a congressionally-mandated commission on poverty-focused development has issued its report; a Senate staff delegation has conducted an extensive overseas fact-finding mission; and numerous nongovernmental organizations, think tanks, and presidential campaigns have issued policy prescriptions on the future of U.S. foreign aid. In all of these efforts, insufficient attention has been paid to the implications of actual and proposed changes in the U.S. foreign assistance program to the future priority and funding of family planning and reproductive health (FP/RH) care overseas-highly successful and cost-effective programs that have received U.S. government funding since the 1960s.

Filmed in Kenya and Uganda, this 9-minute documentary provides a snapshot of the Bush administrationís abstinence-only approach to HIV prevention as part of its global HIV/AIDS assistance. Abstaining from Reality examines how these ideologically-driven programs are actually endangering the lives of the people theyíre supposed to be protecting. This policy is disconnected from the reality of the lives of women and young people, who are disproportionately affected by the epidemic. The film urges a balanced, comprehensive approach to preventing HIV infections by providing full and accurate information and a range of services that empower individuals to make informed decisions.

The President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief is a five year, US$15 billion initiative to fight the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Unfortunately, this assistance comes with significant restrictions on how the money is spent, undermining the public health impact of the funds.

On January 22, 2001 - his second day in office - President George W. Bush announced the reinstatement of the restrictions on overseas health care organizations in effect during the mid-1980s and early 1990s, commonly known as the "Mexico City Policy." The policy reversal has had serious ramifications for U.S. support for international family planning and reproductive health programs around the world.

The Global Gag Rule was reinstated by President George W. Bush on his first day in office in January 2001. Officially termed the Mexico City Policy, these restrictions mandate that no U.S. family planning assistance can be provided to foreign NGOs that use funding from any other source to: perform abortions in cases other than a threat to the woman's life, rape or incest; provide counseling and referral for abortion; or lobby to make abortion legal or more available in their country.

Since 1965, Congress has appropriated money in the foreign assistance bill for population assistance to developing countries to advance the U.S. foreign policy goals of promoting sustainable development and health in these countries. This money supports family planning and related reproductive health services through programs administered by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). Such programs directly benefit tens of millions of couples each year, improving both maternal and child health and contributing to slower population growth.

Family planning opponents in the U.S. Congress have long sought to place burdensome restrictions on U.S. population assistance. One such restriction is the Mexico City Policy, known to its opponents as the Global Gag Rule, which has proven detrimental to America's foreign policy objectives, to family planning programs in developing countries, and to women's health.

The US foreign aid program has expanded access to contraception for millions of couples in developing nations, enabling them to plan their families. The program has also helped to slow population growth rates, making an important contribution to the future quality of life on our planet. Yet the job is far from done. For global family planning efforts to fully succeed, Americans and their leaders must continue to support US population assistance.