Care2 member? Log in

Support Real Investment in Family Planning: It's Time to Double the Money

Target: U.S. Congress
Sponsored by: Population Connection

What Will $1 Billion Buy? Security. Stability. Survival.

Few investments promise as positive a return as family planning. But in the last decade, U.S. funding for international family planning programs has declined by almost 40%. At the same time, the number of women of reproductive age in the developing world has increased by more than 275 million.

Today, more than 200 million women in the developing world wish to delay or end childbearing but do not have access to modern contraceptives. Lack of access to family planning services contributes to a host of devastating consequences for the entire world: resource insecurity, social instability, and maternal and child death.

If the United States wants to meet these 21st century challenges, then it is time for a change in direction: a return to real investment in family planning.

An investment of $1 billion – roughly double our current spending – represents the United States fair share of the total cost of meeting the existing unmet need for family planning in the developing world, and it is a good investment in a healthy future for all of us.

Sign the petition, and let Congress know that real investment in family planning will reap massive rewards for the whole planet.

deadline: Ongoing...
goal: 20,000

20,151
signatures!

Sign Petition see who signed this

log in
This petition has been closed. see more petitions

Dear Representative [Last Name]:

Few investments promise as positive a return as family planning. Every additional $100 million provided for family planning will allow 3.6 million additional women to use modern contraceptives and will result in: 2.1 million fewer unintended pregnancies; 825,000 fewer abortions; nearly a million fewer unplanned births; 70,000 fewer infant deaths; and, 4,000 fewer maternal deaths.

Real investment in family planning will:

Save the lives of women and children and improve quality of life for everyone.
Every year, more than half a million women die of pregnancy related causes worldwide and more than fifty million women suffer serious complications related to pregnancy or childbirth. Nearly all of these deaths and injuries are preventable. In fact, universal access to contraceptives could prevent nearly half of all maternal deaths and a significant proportion of infant deaths. The link between expanded access to family planning and increased maternal and child survival has been proven over and over in countries in every part of the world.

Today, there are 200 million women who would like to limit or space pregnancies but have no access to modern methods of contraceptives. Demand for birth control is projected to increase by 40 percent in the next fifteen years. It's time for the United States to renew its commitment to make a real investment in family planning.

Protect the environment and relieve pressure on natural resources.
Continuing population growth in the developing world contributes to resource scarcity and human suffering. Population growth leads to the destruction of forests, the spread of deserts, the pollution and over-fishing of oceans and waterways, and it is a major contributor to the climate change crisis. The end results are resource depletion, environmental degradation and malnutrition.

Failure to give people the ability to make their own choices about childbearing will make solutions to all of these challenges significantly more difficult to find.

Encourage social stability and decrease conflict.
Resource scarcity and other population pressures place stress on fragile governments and other social structures. Many poor countries struggle to maintain health care, schooling and urban infrastructure in the face of rapid population growth. Countries that lack the means to provide the most basic needs of their people -- food, water, housing education, employment -- are at significant risk of instability and conflict. In countries with significant unmet need for contraceptives, high fertility rates are leading to "youth bulges" -- a high proportion of young people with little or no hope of education and employment.

As you know, the United States was once a global leader in supporting family planning, but our contributions to international family planning programs over the past decade have been inadequate. Indeed, our nation is contributing significantly less than it did fourteen years ago. When inflation is considered, we are providing 40 percent less than we did in 1995.

It's time to reverse this trend. That is why I urge you to support significant new funding and policy language to strengthen family planning programs in the FY '09 State Department, Foreign Operations Appropriations bill. Specifically, I ask that you provide a total of $1 billion for family planning in the developing world, including $63.5 million for the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). In addition, I urge you to include new policy language to ensure that the UNFPA funding is not withheld by the administration.

To paraphrase former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, family planning builds stronger families, stronger communities and stronger countries. An investment of $1 billion represents the United States fair share of the total cost of meeting the existing unmet need for family planning in the developing world and it is a good investment in a healthy future for all of us.

[Your Comments]

Sincerely,

[Your Name]
[Your Address]

We Support Real Investment in Family Planning!

# 9,900:

3:11 pm PDT, May 11, Jessica Teal, California

# 9,899:

3:11 pm PDT, May 11, Amina Loucas, Florida

# 9,898:

2:55 pm PDT, May 11, Name not displayed, California

# 9,897:

2:53 pm PDT, May 11, Gary Loucas, Florida

# 9,896:

2:51 pm PDT, May 11, Ralf Schuetz, Colorado

# 9,895:

2:50 pm PDT, May 11, Amanda Longoria, Texas

# 9,894:

2:49 pm PDT, May 11, Alexis Robertson, Tennessee

# 9,893:

2:40 pm PDT, May 11, Teresa Robertson, California

# 9,892:

2:39 pm PDT, May 11, Jade Hodgkins, Florida

# 9,891:

2:26 pm PDT, May 11, Erica Baffa, Illinois

# 9,890:

2:18 pm PDT, May 11, Royce Fincher, California
So many problems trace to unwanted children or unsupportable children due to overpopulation. Support their mothers with investments that will pay off for them, but also for the rest of the world.

# 9,889:

2:15 pm PDT, May 11, Gerri Desjardin, Georgia

# 9,888:

2:14 pm PDT, May 11, Tom Woodson JD, Florida
The population explosion is not good for anyone, mothers, children, fathers, no one. It causes hunger, poverty, death and prison overcrowding. Desperate men do desperate things. When a man or woman see their children starving, you might be amazed at what good people will do. Family planning for the poor is one of the answers.

# 9,887:

2:13 pm PDT, May 11, June Englund, Minnesota

# 9,886:

2:08 pm PDT, May 11, Lisa McDaniel, Connecticut

# 9,885:

2:04 pm PDT, May 11, Terrie Smith, California

# 9,884:

1:58 pm PDT, May 11, Kat Nicolas, California

# 9,883:

1:56 pm PDT, May 11, Salem Katt, Mississippi

# 9,882:

1:54 pm PDT, May 11, Drew Vetter, Colorado

# 9,881:

1:54 pm PDT, May 11, Heather Ervin, Illinois

# 9,880:

1:54 pm PDT, May 11, Gayle Fieldgrove, California

# 9,879:

1:51 pm PDT, May 11, Julie Tamler, Vermont

# 9,878:

1:46 pm PDT, May 11, Rachel Hinton, New York

# 9,877:

1:45 pm PDT, May 11, John V. Peterson, Oregon

# 9,876:

1:41 pm PDT, May 11, Name not displayed, New Jersey

# 9,875:

1:41 pm PDT, May 11, Krista Heidenhofer, New Jersey

# 9,874:

1:37 pm PDT, May 11, Leigh Wisner, Oklahoma

# 9,873:

1:36 pm PDT, May 11, Name not displayed, California

# 9,872:

1:23 pm PDT, May 11, Che Sanders, West Virginia

# 9,871:

1:20 pm PDT, May 11, Name not displayed, California

# 9,870:

1:19 pm PDT, May 11, Jim Adams, Washington

# 9,869:

1:15 pm PDT, May 11, C. Russell Huffman, West Virginia

# 9,868:

1:13 pm PDT, May 11, Christa Washington, Washington

# 9,867:

1:08 pm PDT, May 11, Katayun Salehi, Illinois

# 9,866:

1:04 pm PDT, May 11, Christine El Fatihi, Washington

# 9,865:

12:59 pm PDT, May 11, Robert Drury, North Carolina

# 9,864:

12:58 pm PDT, May 11, Cyndy Robb, North Carolina

# 9,863:

12:56 pm PDT, May 11, Michael Stabile, Florida

# 9,862:

12:50 pm PDT, May 11, Charlie Hogue, Iowa

# 9,861:

12:48 pm PDT, May 11, Alyson Holsclaw, New York

# 9,860:

12:47 pm PDT, May 11, Christal Thomson, Kentucky
We need help planning for the future, for our future.

# 9,859:

12:42 pm PDT, May 11, Mary Wakeman, North Carolina

# 9,858:

12:41 pm PDT, May 11, Emily Hudson, United Kingdom

# 9,857:

12:36 pm PDT, May 11, Carol Ethan, New York
this is how to cut down the number of abortions. and save lives. If you are for life, family planning is the way to go.

# 9,856:

12:32 pm PDT, May 11, Cindi Kirby, Florida

# 9,855:

12:25 pm PDT, May 11, Tim Tarleton, North Carolina

# 9,854:

12:20 pm PDT, May 11, Name not displayed, United Kingdom
Every child should be a wanted child with a healthy and loving start in life.

# 9,853:

12:14 pm PDT, May 11, Linda Brodman, California

# 9,852:

12:08 pm PDT, May 11, Catherine Lenoir, Oregon

# 9,851:

12:08 pm PDT, May 11, Patricia Losos, Illinois

View Signatures:
|<
<
20,154
20,100
20,050
...
10,000
9,950
9,900
9,850
9,800
...
150
100
50
>
>|

Support Real Investment in Family Planning: It's Time to Double the Money

This petition has been closed.