Message-Id: <3.0.32.19971201103725.00a70c9c@popact.org>
Date: Mon, 01 Dec 1997 10:37:26 -0500
To: ppn@csf.colorado.edu
From: Richard Cincotta <cincotta@popact.org>
Subject: U.S. Congress and Intl family planning assistance
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FROM:   http://www.popact.org/news/1197pr.htm
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Resolution on Family Planning Assistance;
"Unhappy Compromise" says Population Action International 


November 13, 1997 — Washington, DC —Population Action International (PAI)
today released the following statement by vice president Victoria Markell
in the wake of House and Senate passage of the Foreign Operations
Appropriations bill: 

"Faced with the promise of a presidential veto, those brokering this
agreement apparently realized the futility of seeking to attach
anti-democratic principles to the U.S. foreign aid program. The Gag Rule
was clearly intended to stifle free speech and to prevent the exchange of
potentially life-saving information. It had to be rejected. Unfortunately,
they exacted a heavy price by threatening this country’s role in the United
Nations and the international financial system and its ability conduct a
coherent foreign policy. 

"We are thankful that, for the first time in two years, U.S. international
family planning funds will be released at the same time as the rest of
development assistance. However, we cannot applaud the continued
underfunding of this crucial health program—at a time when other programs
are receiving increases—nor the doling out of its money by the teaspoon.
This is an unhappy compromise all round and still no way to fund the
world’s leading bilateral family planning program; rather, it is a way to
cripple it. 

"After two years of damaging spending restrictions, the pipeline of
available funds for the U.S. international family planning program is
reaching critically low levels. And millions of dollars are being wasted in
carrying out the additional administrative work required to disburse small
amounts of money, each month, to the many projects supported by USAID. 

"U.S.-supported family planning projects provide services to tens of
millions of couples around the world. Given the role of contraceptive use
in preventing abortion and preserving maternal and child health, any
unnecessary loss of funds is a human tragedy." 

Contact: Andrea Calise, PAI Washington, Tel: 202-659-1833,
Ext. 141. E-mail: acalise@popact.org