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Population:
United Nations Population Fund Women’s Health and Dignity Act

Our Position: support
Bill Number: HR 2604
Sponsor: Joseph Crowley (D-NY-7)
Legislative Session: 2008

The Women’s Health and Dignity Act would provide financial and other support to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) to carry out activities to save women’s lives, limit the incidence of abortion and maternal mortality associated with unsafe abortion, promote universal access to safe and reliable family planning, and assist women, children, and men in developing countries to live better lives. Specifically, it authorizes the President to make a voluntary contribution on a grant basis to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) to: (1) Provide and distribute equipment, medicine, supplies, and expertise to ensure safe childbirth and emergency obstetric care; (2) Make contraceptives available for the prevention of pregnancy and sexually-transmitted infections, including HIV/AIDS; (3) Reduce abortion and related maternal mortality; (4) Reduce and eliminate coercive family planning practices; (5) Reduce and eliminate sex selection; (6) Prevent and treat cases of obstetric fistula; (7) Promote abandonment of harmful traditional practices, including female genital cutting and child marriage; (8) Reestablish maternal health services in areas where medical infrastructure has been destroyed by natural disasters; and (9) Promote the access of unaccompanied women and other vulnerable people to vital services, including access to water, sanitation facilities, food, and health care, in emergency situations.

Status

The UNFPA Women’s Health and Dignity Act was introduced in the House on June 7 2007. It was then referred to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. For more information, including the full text of the bill and a complete list of co-sponsoring Representatives, click here.

Action Needed

We must build strong bipartisan support for this vital legislation.

·    Contact your Representative today and ask him or her to co-sponsor the UNFPA Women’s Health and Dignity Act (H.R. 2604).

o   Click here to find your Representative and his or her contact information.

o   Click here for a list of current co-sponsoring Representatives. If your Representative is already a co-sponsor, write or call to thank them for their leadership on this issue!

·    Help mobilize grassroots support for this legislation by getting involved with the Green-Pink Project today! Host a Sierra Club and One By One Green-Pink Party to empower women living in the developing world with access to basic rights- including health care, education and economic opportunity- and protect our global environment.

Contact

Sarah Fairchild

Global Population and Environment Program Director

sarah.fairchild@sierraclub.org

202-675-2396 

Background

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) works in over 140 countries to ensure that women have access to voluntary family planning, economic opportunities, and education. Beginning in 2002, President Bush put a temporary hold on U.S. contributions to UNFPA, citing concerns over China's family planning programs. Now, six years later, UNFPA continues to receive zero funding from the U.S. One year's withheld funding of $34 million could prevent as many as 2 million unintended pregnancies and 4,700 maternal deaths in developing countries. (1)

One of the most effective ways to improve community health and work to achieve larger global sustainable development goals is to increase access to voluntary family planning programs and services - around the world and in the U.S. When women and men can choose the size and spacing of their families, they tend to have smaller, healthier families. This has a ripple effect that benefits communities socially, economically, and environmentally.