Urge Your Representative to Support the Re-Funding of UNFPA

"Family planning leads to economy planning leads to national planning. And central to it all is the changing role of women. After all, a country cannot develop with the participation of only half its citizens." --Behind Every Choice is a Story

Last year President Bush, ignoring the advice of his own State Department investigation team, decided to withhold all U.S. funding to the United Nations Populations Fund (UNFPA). UNFPA is the single largest global source of multilateral funding for maternal health and family planning programs, providing desperately needed health care services to poor women and their families in 150 countries. On Tuesday, July 15th, the U.S. House of Representatives is expected to take up the issue of re-funding UNFPA in the State Department Authorization bill (H.R. 1950). Please contact your Representative today and urge him or her to support the bill’s provision that would allow UNFPA to once again receive U.S. funding.

Sample Letter for Campaign

Subject: Support International Family Planning

Dear [ Decision Maker ] ,

I support funding for the United Nations Populations Fund (UNFPA) because it is the single largest global source of multilateral funding for maternal health and family planning programs, providing desperately needed health care services to poor women and their families in 150 countries. During the vote on the State Department Authorization Act (H.R. 1950) please support the provision authored by Joseph Crowley (D-NY). This provision will clarify current U.S. law around the UNFPA and allow it to receive money from the U.S. Last year President Bush, ignoring the advice of his own State Department investigation team, decided to withhold all U.S. funding to UNFPA. The loss of U.S. funding has had a grave impact on UNFPA programs and the people they serve.

I urge you to do everything in your power to retain the Crowley provision and defeat any attempts to gut this provision.

Sincerely,

Campaign Launched:
July 10, 2003

Background Information

In response to pressure from anti-choice Representatives and other groups opposed to contraception, the administration withdrew funding from UNFPA in 2002 and argued that because UNFPA operates in China, it implicitly supports coercive abortion and forced sterilization in violation of U.S. law. Nothing could be further from the truth. In China, the UNFPA program was developed with the express purpose of moving China away from coercion and toward delivery of voluntary services to its people.

Joseph Crowley (D-NY) has authored a provision in the State Department Authorization bill to clarify current U.S. law around UNFPA to allow it to receive U.S. money. The Crowley provision provides strict safeguards against coercion in family planning programs, clarifies current U.S. law to enable U.S. funding to be used to help end coercion in China and provides badly needed maternal health and other services in poor countries.

Urge your Representative to retain the Crowley provision and defeat any attempts to gut this provision. Click here to learn more about UNFPA.


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