Don't Let the Bush Administration Control Women's Health
The US government recently demanded that six African countries (Ghana, Malawi, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zimbabwe) halt the supply of contraceptives going to the renowned international aid and reproductive health organization Marie Stopes International (MSI). MSI works in 40 countries, providing healthcare and family planning advice to some of the poorest women and families in the world. The six countries where USAID is denying women access to contraception have some of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world. For women living in this context, preventing unwanted pregnancies is often a matter of life and death.
USAID accused MSI of enabling the Chinese government to conduct "coercive abortion and involuntary sterilizations." This accusation is unfounded. Multiple independent observers, including a Bush Administration fact-finding mission, have verified that MSI's work in no way supports these practices. The 2001 investigation was targeted at the United Nations Population Fund's (UNFPA) program in China - a program that MSI works to implement. The investigation stated that they found "no evidence that UNFPA has knowingly supported or participated in the management of a program of coercive abortion or involuntary sterilization in the People's Republic of China."
MSI enables women to safely control their own reproductive health. In many rural areas, MSI is the only organization that provides contraception to women, preventing unwanted and risky pregnancies and unsafe abortions. The World Bank estimates that 68,000 women die from unsafe abortions globally each year and 5.1 million are left permanently disabled by them. MSI's services are crucial to these women.
The Bush Administration is gambling with the lives of African women to appease its right-wing Republican base.
Help us stop this attempt to deny women access to family planning alternatives, and make sure that women in Africa don't suffer because of political maneuvering in the US.
To
Henrietta H. Fore, Administrator, USAID
Katherine J. Almquist, Assistant Administrator for the Bureau for Africa, USAID
Dr. Kent R. Hill, Assistant Administrator for the Bureau for Global
Health, USAID
We, the undersigned, strongly disagree with USAID's decision to pressure six African governments (Ghana, Malawi, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zimbabwe) to cease the provision of US-funded contraceptives to Marie Stopes International (MSI).
USAID has accused MSI of enabling the Chinese government to conduct "coercive abortion and involuntary sterilizations." This accusation has been thoroughly investigated and disproved. Not only will the results of this decision not impact the practices of the Chinese government, but they will negatively effect the lives of women in rural areas in Africa who depend on the resources provided by Marie Stopes International.
MSI is a world leader in sexual and reproductive healthcare services. For many women in rural Africa, MSI is the sole source of contraception. MSIs services in these areas are crucial to the health of these women, and by prohibiting the provision of contraceptives USAID has put the lives of these women in danger.
We upon the United States government to reverse this decision, and to support MSIs efforts in supplying women around the world with reproductive healthcare that can save their lives and enable them to exercise the full range of their human rights.
For More Information :
http://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/5095/t/3537/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=164