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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: 4-15-2009
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!

# 20,155:

3:14 pm PDT, Jul 8, Dongjoo Lee, New York
Everyone knows why this must be done and it is imperative as well.

# 20,154:

10:30 am PDT, Jul 8, Olamalenga Kikeloma, Kentucky

# 20,153:

8:26 am PDT, Jul 8, Amy Robison, Illinois
Children deserve a real chance at happiness, but when they must compete with finances, they often lose that chance. Family planning tips the scale in their favor. This investment will do so much more than funding a war so few really want. Let's shift our priorities. Go Green!

# 20,152:

7:44 am PDT, Jul 8, Gael Howatt, Massachusetts

# 20,151:

11:20 pm PDT, Jul 7, Jessica Orsini, Pennsylvania

# 20,150:

9:11 pm PDT, Jul 7, Tomi McDonald, California
Women need to options and choices. It is unfair to bring unwanted children into a world where they can not be adequately cared for. A reduction of dangerous and in some places illegal abortions would be the result of more money being put into family planning.

# 20,149:

2:38 pm PDT, Jul 7, Robert Schell, Pennsylvania

# 20,148:

2:23 pm PDT, Jul 7, Kelli Fairman, Florida

# 20,147:

1:47 pm PDT, Jul 7, Joan Schuh, Wisconsin

# 20,146:

7:22 pm PDT, Jul 6, Hubert Delgrange, France
I totally support this petition.

# 20,145:

6:02 pm PDT, Jul 6, Vicky Scheidler, New Mexico

# 20,144:

5:50 pm PDT, Jul 6, Althea Gerdes, Missouri

# 20,143:

3:39 pm PDT, Jul 6, Joanna Mest, California

# 20,142:

10:10 am PDT, Jul 6, Name not displayed, Pennsylvania

# 20,141:

8:22 am PDT, Jul 6, Shauna Rowe, Washington

# 20,140:

7:32 am PDT, Jul 6, Ann Roche, Florida

# 20,139:

6:50 pm PDT, Jul 5, Kathryn Flueck, Colorado

# 20,138:

6:37 pm PDT, Jul 5, Dorothy Marsh, California

# 20,137:

3:33 pm PDT, Jul 5, Catalina Lup, Canada

# 20,136:

3:10 pm PDT, Jul 5, Hadiah Wadud-Rice, Indiana

# 20,135:

2:25 pm PDT, Jul 5, Karen Schaeffer, Texas

# 20,134:

11:20 am PDT, Jul 5, Piper Honigmann, North Carolina

# 20,133:

10:52 pm PDT, Jul 4, Name not displayed, Washington

# 20,132:

5:49 pm PDT, Jul 4, Name not displayed, California
the only way that countries will be able to survive is to limit their population. you can't let human population continue keep growing out of control, there must be limits.

# 20,131:

3:15 pm PDT, Jul 4, Sarah Fahey, Minnesota

# 20,130:

1:31 pm PDT, Jul 4, Gary Parfitt, Colorado

# 20,129:

8:45 am PDT, Jul 4, Michele Westmoreland, North Carolina

# 20,128:

7:47 am PDT, Jul 4, Neil Mashalkar, Ohio

# 20,127:

7:34 am PDT, Jul 4, Helen Patek, California

# 20,126:

7:09 am PDT, Jul 4, Curt Bastian, Illinois

# 20,125:

4:40 pm PDT, Jul 3, Satya Lemay, California

# 20,124:

11:57 am PDT, Jul 3, Philip Ratcliff, California
Overpopulation is at the center of the environmental crisis that threatens to doom the Earth.

# 20,123:

11:31 am PDT, Jul 3, Kristen Mullin, Massachusetts

# 20,122:

9:06 am PDT, Jul 3, Name not displayed, New Mexico

# 20,121:

9:01 am PDT, Jul 3, Christine Coutu, Texas
Overpopulation leads to poverty and joblessness which leads to violence and war.

# 20,120:

8:56 am PDT, Jul 3, Michael Epstein, New York

# 20,119:

7:03 am PDT, Jul 3, Dorothy Bammerlin, Texas

# 20,118:

6:08 am PDT, Jul 3, Sandra OMalley, Rhode Island

# 20,117:

2:44 am PDT, Jul 3, Eva Fung, Iowa

# 20,116:

7:21 pm PDT, Jul 2, Name not displayed, Colorado
Helping women who wish to control giving birth is a win win situation. There are less abortions which I feel is a dastardly crime and less unwanted children born to parents who can't afford them or don't want them. Giving them access to birth control options is a good thing.

# 20,115:

6:42 pm PDT, Jul 2, Muse Ma, Maryland

# 20,114:

6:08 pm PDT, Jul 2, JO Davison, Ohio

# 20,113:

2:49 pm PDT, Jul 2, Sydney Mcquoid, Texas
Education a woman and give her control of how many children she has (family planning) and the entire family will be lifted out of poverty.

# 20,112:

2:21 pm PDT, Jul 2, Kellie Hoyt, Minnesota

# 20,111:

2:10 pm PDT, Jul 2, David Simmons, Washington

# 20,110:

1:28 pm PDT, Jul 2, Morghan Crownover, Texas

# 20,109:

12:30 pm PDT, Jul 2, Julie Neuman, California

# 20,108:

12:16 pm PDT, Jul 2, Martha Ordonez, Texas

# 20,107:

10:51 am PDT, Jul 2, Belladonna Wolf, South Dakota

# 20,106:

10:48 am PDT, Jul 2, David Wappler, Georgia
Because people are happier when they have control over their lives, over their destiny, over their future. The Earth is straining from 6 billion people. We need to stabilize our global population, which increase wages for the working poor.

# 20,105:

9:48 am PDT, Jul 2, Cathy McEachern, Minnesota
children who are unwanted face many more challenges in life as do their parents who are "trapped" for years. please help to make sure all women have the ability to prevent unwanted pregnancies and therefore unwanted children. those who are created intentionally have so much more chance of a successful life.

# 20,104:

7:58 am PDT, Jul 2, Sonia Krech-jacobsen, Minnesota

# 20,103:

7:21 am PDT, Jul 2, Sarah W, Texas

# 20,102:

6:28 am PDT, Jul 2, Elizabeth M Holsten, North Carolina

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

This petition has been closed.