President George W. Bush has put a plan into action to discontinue family planning funding to the United Nations Population Fund. According to opponents of the decision, pulling such funding will deny millions of women worldwide basic reproductive services like birth control, sexuality education, prenatal and obstetric care, and preventive HIV and AIDS education and life-saving services.
"This is a shameful decision that Bush has made and Americans need to do something about it," said Joann Smith, the president and CEO of Family Planning Advocates of New York State.
According to Smith, this is the third year that Bush has withdrawn funding to the UNFPA, and if used properly, the $34 million dollars appropriated by Congress could prevent 2 million unintended pregnancies, 800,000 abortions and 77,000 infant and child deaths each year.
"Our government should be ashamed," Smith said. "There are many tragic outcomes as a result of this decision and they could have all been prevented."
In 1994, the United States participated in the United Nations International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo, joining 179 nations in a global commitment to support and expand women's access to family planning, reproductive health care and education.
But according to Smith, the United States has not only failed to meet its commitment, but the current administration is actively working to undermine support for the Cairo consensus, causing many women in underdeveloped countries to lose their only source of health care.
According to Smith, more than 515,000 women die each year, 98 percent of them in developing countries, as a result of pregnancy or childbirth. An estimated 120 million women in developing countries say they would prefer to plan their families but lack access to contraception.
"How could our country let this happen?" Smith said.
According to Smith, in 2001 President Bush signed an executive order known as the global gag rule, which cut off critical funding to foreign non-governmental organizations if they provide abortion services, counsel patients on pregnancy options, refer patients for abortion services or lobby their governments for abortion services, even if they do so with their own funds.
"This is President Bush's own decision," said Smith, referring to the gag rule.
The gag rule prevents health clinics from delivering vital health care services in poverty-stricken countries, Smith added. In many communities, this health care is the only source of medical attention available to women and their families.
"Health care is easy to give," Smith said. "I can't believe the United States is doing this."
According to Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Inc., under the global gag rule providers can't discuss the full range of options, including the availability of abortion, with clients facing an unplanned pregnancy. These restrictions defy medical ethics, group members said, preventing doctors from fulfilling their responsibility to provide complete information to their clients. The federation says this sort of government intrusion into the doctor-patient relationship would be intolerable in the United States, yet this is exactly what the global gag rule does in other countries.
Smith said she believes students should care about such issues, especially when poor maternal health and nutrition contribute to low birth weight in 20 million babies each year and at least 30 to 40 percent of infant deaths are the result of poor care during pregnancy and delivery.
"Students know that the world is small. When a baby dies it affects the whole world," Smith said.
Smith added that if only the United States would provide the proper funding, infant deaths could be avoided with improved maternal health, adequate nutrition and appropriate health care during pregnancy and childbirth.
Junior Megan Gowin said she could relate to the women being affected by Bush's decision.
"Having my own child, I feel it is important to have the option of birth control provided, especially in third world countries where population is growing out of control," she said.
