Access to Family Planning

International family planning (IFP) includes reproductive health services, which covers prenatal and postnatal care, contraception, HIV/AIDS and STI education and prevention, and more. Family planning empowers women and families by giving them the resources and tools that they need to voluntarily plan when and whether to have children. It is beneficial for families worldwide, as it helps reduce maternal, infant, and child mortality rates, increases girls’ and women’s access to education, and helps to foster economic growth and political development. In addition, international family planning decreases the number of unplanned pregnancies, and subsequently, the incidence of abortion.

Since 1969, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has provided assistance to developing countries, at their request, to improve the quality of and access to reproductive health care, such as family planning, safe motherhood, and the prevention of sexually transmitted infections including HIV/AIDS. It is a multilateral agency that does not represent any one country, but is funded by voluntary contributions, primarily from national governments.

Since 2002, President George W. Bush has either blocked or redirected tens of millions of dollars in funding approved by Congress for the UNFPA based on false and unsubstantiated claims by anti-abortion extremists that the agency supports forced abortions in China. The blocked U.S. contribution to the UNFPA would make up 13% of the total funding for its international family planning programs every year - enabling the agency to prevent two million unwanted pregnancies, 4,700 maternal deaths, nearly 60,000 cases of maternal illnesses, and over 77,000 cases of infant and child mortality annually.

Raise awareness about the importance of international family planning and current U.S. policies that compromise the effectiveness of aid being given!

Have your friends sign the petition to release funds for the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and to lift the Global Gag Rule.

Learn More about UNFPA and then organize on campus with our Support International Family Planning and the UNFPA campaign! Call or plan a group visit to your Senators' home offices and ask them to support international family planning.

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