International Family Planning

Nearly 600,000 women die worldwide each year from causes related to pregnancy. When couples are unable to space their children, children’s lives are threatened as well — over 30,000 babies die each day during birth or just after, and 90% of infants whose mothers die from childbirth die by their first birthday. Voluntary family planning is a critical and doable first step in addressing this devastation. (source: www.familyplanet.org)

As is the case with global AIDS, the United States has a tremendous opportunity to support the health of women and families by funding proven programs to make family planning available to couples who wish to limit or space their children. However, the Bush administration has turned its back on women in poor countries, choosing instead to export right-wing ideology and to dramatically limit access to family planning programs.

Key family planning issues:

• ICPD/Cairo Consensus: The international agreement that has become a foundation for raising the status of women worldwide. Find out how President Bush has backed away from the agreement.

• UNFPA/United Nations Population Fund: the only multilateral agency specifically devoted to providing family planning and reproductive health care services; de-funded by President Bush at great cost to women’s health.

• Global Gag Rule: reinstated on President Bush’s first day in office, the global gag rule denies U.S. foreign assistance to organizations that use their own funds to provide, counsel, or advocate for safe abortion.

More on the Bush administration and international family planning:

• Planned Parenthood Federation of America report on the effect of right-wing ideology on U.S. reproductive and sexual health policy

• President Bush’s War on Women – see how Bush’s attacks on global sexual and reproductive health fit within a web of attacks on U.S. women’s rights.

• International family planning news from PPFA

• Planet: raising awareness of international family planning in the minds of the American public.

  In This Section:

NAPPA: Our Partner

Snapshot of Namibia

Sexual Health in Namibia

Letters from Namibia

Namibian Scrap Book

US Policy & Global Health

AIDS in Africa

Global AIDS Fund

Inter. Family Planning

UNFPA

Global Gag Rule