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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

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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!

# 200:

6:26 am PDT, Apr 24, Jamie Scott, Texas
There are far too many people in the world, and the people that are having multiple children often have no resources to care for them. It is not the rest of the world's job to care for these children. Let's get rid of this burden with family planning.

# 199:

6:19 am PDT, Apr 24, Pamela Mendoza, Florida
Because I was taught that family always comes first. That is the main reason we survive. With out it there is know family, there will be crime, homeless, and a lot of destruction.

# 198:

5:59 am PDT, Apr 24, Jessica Gutter, Massachusetts

# 197:

5:58 am PDT, Apr 24, Fred Fall, New Jersey

# 196:

5:24 am PDT, Apr 24, Vidya Sims, California

# 195:

5:20 am PDT, Apr 24, Sarolta Nagy, Serbia And Montenegro

# 194:

5:03 am PDT, Apr 24, Susan Balmer, Illinois

# 193:

4:27 am PDT, Apr 24, Mirela Kefelja, Croatia

# 192:

4:05 am PDT, Apr 24, Joanne Jaber, Ohio

# 191:

3:38 am PDT, Apr 24, Susan Walker, California

# 190:

3:12 am PDT, Apr 24, Steve Amraen, Illinois

# 189:

3:01 am PDT, Apr 24, Terry Apolloni, Minnesota

# 188:

12:38 am PDT, Apr 24, Linda Hardy, California

# 187:

11:34 pm PDT, Apr 23, Name not displayed, California

# 186:

9:55 pm PDT, Apr 23, Denise Lytle, New Jersey

# 185:

9:49 pm PDT, Apr 23, Patricia Nigro, Florida

# 184:

9:39 pm PDT, Apr 23, Khalib Mcphee, Colorado

# 183:

9:32 pm PDT, Apr 23, Hillary Endorf, Ohio

# 182:

9:32 pm PDT, Apr 23, Merry Loscalzo-Stumpf, Iowa

# 181:

8:35 pm PDT, Apr 23, Sherryl Greenbaum, New York

# 180:

8:28 pm PDT, Apr 23, Glezela Meyer, Missouri

# 179:

8:26 pm PDT, Apr 23, Brenda Lawson, California

# 178:

8:19 pm PDT, Apr 23, Terrah Dawn, Mississippi

# 177:

7:56 pm PDT, Apr 23, Maria Del Carme Bregante, Argentina

# 176:

7:55 pm PDT, Apr 23, Linda Hames, Alabama

# 175:

7:53 pm PDT, Apr 23, Payton Strzalka, Florida

# 174:

7:35 pm PDT, Apr 23, Steve Dale, Australia

# 173:

7:28 pm PDT, Apr 23, Jill Burnett, Tennessee
help children

# 172:

7:22 pm PDT, Apr 23, Kat Ferrara, New Jersey
family planning isn't a new concept it's a necessary one in this dire time. over population is the number one threat to our planet. Lets curb people growth.

# 171:

7:15 pm PDT, Apr 23, Marcia Hansen, Iowa
It is pure and irrefutable math. Too many people on one planet and we ruin it for everyone and everything!!!

# 170:

6:44 pm PDT, Apr 23, Marlena Alo, Guam

# 169:

6:42 pm PDT, Apr 23, Marianne Gabel, Ohio
Sustainable global population is a key to the success of humanitarian, social justice, environmental and peace efforts around the planet.

# 168:

6:01 pm PDT, Apr 23, Bob Pettapiece, Michigan
Save $$ & lives!

# 167:

5:59 pm PDT, Apr 23, Martha Boak, Pennsylvania

# 166:

5:44 pm PDT, Apr 23, Diana Pombo, Mexico

# 165:

5:25 pm PDT, Apr 23, JoAnne Perdue, Florida

# 164:

5:04 pm PDT, Apr 23, Denice Gould, Washington

# 163:

4:54 pm PDT, Apr 23, Brad Miller, Kansas
Hopefully to avoid global famine.

# 162:

4:41 pm PDT, Apr 23, Laura Buckingham, Pennsylvania

# 161:

4:39 pm PDT, Apr 23, Ani Kaspar, New Mexico

# 160:

4:26 pm PDT, Apr 23, Name not displayed, California

# 159:

4:18 pm PDT, Apr 23, Madison Small, Oklahoma

# 158:

3:33 pm PDT, Apr 23, Tati Derichsweiler, Arizona

# 157:

3:31 pm PDT, Apr 23, Joy Cross, Mississippi

# 156:

3:31 pm PDT, Apr 23, Elena Dragomir, Romania

# 155:

3:18 pm PDT, Apr 23, Jennifer Henderson, Florida

# 154:

3:08 pm PDT, Apr 23, Elle Vegan, Canada

# 153:

3:07 pm PDT, Apr 23, Marcela Oliva, Argentina

# 152:

3:02 pm PDT, Apr 23, Donna Beasley, Pennsylvania

# 151:

3:02 pm PDT, Apr 23, Pamela White, North Carolina

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

This petition has been closed.