Facts about U.S. International Family Planning Funding and Policy

 

How much has the United States contributed to international family planning programs?

 

U.S. funding for international family planning peaked in 1995 after agreements reached at the 1994 United Nations International Conference on Population and Development, and has faced funding cuts and policy restrictions since that time:

 

§         In 1995, the United States led the community of donor nations in addressing the urgent and growing global need for family planning services. U.S. funding for these programs—an area of leadership for the United States since the mid-1960s—reached $542 million in bilateral assistance through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). The U.S. contribution to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) was $35 million.

 

§         For FY1996, Congress enacted draconian cuts to family planning assistance and held U.S. funding to about 30 percent less than 1995 levels until FY 2001.  In FY1999, Congress completely eliminated U.S. funding for UNFPA.

 

§         For FY2001, funding was partially restored--to $425 million for USAID and $25 million for UNFPA. However, as part of a compromise that secured the funding bill’s passage, USAID’s funds could not be spent until Feb. 15, 2001, allowing the future U.S. president to make further decisions about policy surrounding international family planning programs.

 

What is the “Mexico City” policy and what is the “Global Gag Rule”?

 

The “Mexico City” policy was issued by President Reagan in 1984. Named after a population conference held in Mexico City, it prohibited organizations that received U.S. funds from counseling women about abortion services legal within their own countries; from speaking out on abortion issues, even during democratic policy debate; or from performing legal abortion services, even with their own funds. The restrictions were never enacted into law but were enforced as executive branch policy from 1984 until President Clinton repealed them in his first few days of office in early 1993.

 

The “Global Gag Rule” became law for the first time as part of the FY2000 Foreign Operations Appropriations bill, a compromise between the Clinton Administration and congressional leaders to release $900 million in unpaid dues to the United Nations. The gag rule was struck from the FY2001 spending bill, but international family planning funds were held up until Feb. 15, 2001 to secure the bill’s passage—allowing further policy decisions to be made after President Clinton left office.

 

The “Global Gag Rule” in the FY2000 Appropriations bill prohibited foreign groups that received U.S. international family planning assistance from lobbying for or against abortion laws in their own countries—prohibiting them from participating in the democratic process, even with their own funds. It also prohibited clinics from using their own money to perform legal abortion services.

 

Don’t the “Mexico City” and “Global Gag Rule” policies just ensure that no U.S. government funds pay for abortions abroad?

No. Longstanding current law already keeps U.S. taxpayer funds from paying for abortions abroad. Since 1973, the Foreign Assistance Act has prohibited the use of U.S. funds for any abortion services overseas. The gag rule and other restrictions on family planning programs confuse the issue by restricting speech.

 

Why should the United States support family planning programs in other countries?

§         Americans overwhelmingly support family planning.  A 1998 poll by RAND found that 92 percent of Americans support the right to plan one’s family, and 80 percent support international family planning services.

 

§         Family planning is a basic right and something people want worldwide.  Some 150 million married women already indicate a desire to plan their families, but lack access to family planning, which includes information, health screening, counseling, and contraceptive services.

 

§         Demand for family planning is growing.  The largest generation of young people in history is now or will soon be entering their prime reproductive years: three billion of the six billion people alive today are under age 25.

 

§         Family planning saves women’s lives. International family planning programs actually reduce abortions by providing vital public health services abroad. They offer maternal health care, HIV/AIDS prevention, and education in nutrition and sanitation, as well as access to contraceptives, and they are often the only basic health care for anyone for miles around. Nearly 500,000 women die each year in pregnancy and childbirth, and some 150 million married women already indicate the desire to plan their families but lack access to family planning and reproductive health services.

 

§         Family planning saves children’s lives. More than 11 million children under the age of five die every year in the developing world, many due to births that come too close together, too early or too late in a woman’s life. Family planning could prevent 25 percent of these deaths—about three million children a year—by helping women to space births at least two years apart, and to bear children during their healthiest reproductive years.

 

§         Slower population growth can help alleviate environmental stress.  Access to fresh water, the conservation of forests, and the preservation of species-rich habitats can all benefit from slower population growth. For example, the latest water data and population projections indicate that between 2.4 billion and 3.2 billion people may live in either water-scarce or water-stressed conditions by 2025. While these figures are many times more than the 500 million people currently living in such conditions, they are still lower than projections made in the early 1990s–thanks to population growth that was slower than expected during the past decade.

 

§         Family planning is an important arena of international cooperation.  Responding to requests from developing countries in the 1960s, the United States and Sweden were the first wealthy countries to provide family planning assistance.  Today, the donor community includes 21 countries, the European Union, the World Bank and UNFPA, working in partnership with more than 150 developing countries to help meet the growing demand for family planning and other reproductive health services.

 

* For more information, contact: Cecilia Snyder of the Communications Consortium Media Center (CCMC)

 

January 2001