Short title

This Act may be cited as the

United Nations Population Fund Women’s Health and Dignity Act

Findings and sense of Congress

(a)

Findings

Congress finds the following: (1)Sexual and reproductive health problems account for an estimated 10 percent of the total global burden of disease and 32 percent of the burden among women of reproductive age. (2)More than four in 10 of the world’s pregnant women still have no access to skilled care at childbirth. Every minute, a woman somewhere dies in pregnancy or childbirth—529,000 deaths a year. Ninety-five percent of maternal deaths occur in Africa and Asia while fewer that one percent occur in the more developed regions of the world. (3)A million or more children are left motherless each year as a result of maternal mortality. These children are three to 10 times more likely to die within two years than children who live with both parents. Almost half of infant deaths per year result from poor maternal health and inadequate delivery care. (4)Roughly 201 million women in low-income countries would use safe, effective contraceptive methods but such methods are not available to such women, including 25 percent of married women in sub-Saharan Africa. If these women had access to reliable family planning services, approximately 52 million unplanned pregnancies would be avoided in the developing world every year, resulting in 23 million unplanned births, 22 million induced abortions, 7 million spontaneous abortions, 1.4 million infant deaths, 142,000 pregnancy-related deaths, and 505,000 children from losing their mothers. (5)Each day 14,000 people are infected with HIV. One-half of all new HIV infections occur in women. In some places women are six times more likely to be infected than men. (6)Access to voluntary family planning services, including contraception, is essential in helping to reduce the number of unintended pregnancies and, consequently, the incidence of abortion. (7)In the process of helping women to achieve their childbearing goals, enormous amounts of government funds are saved. A study in Mexico found that for every peso the Mexican social security system spent on voluntary family planning services between 1972 and 1984, it saved nine pesos in expenses for treating complications of unsafe abortions and providing maternal and infant care. Every dollar invested in Thailand’s voluntary family planning program saved the Thai Government more than $16. (8)The growing global population and its consumption patterns have profound consequences for the global environment, including species extinction, deforestation, desertification, climate change, and the destruction of natural ecosystems. These global environmental impacts pose a significant threat to the earth’s sustainability and impact the quality of life of humans in all regions of the world. (9)Demographic factors have been found to be linked to an increased likelihood of the outbreak of civil conflict during the 1990s. Countries in which young adults comprised more than 40 percent of the adult population were more than twice as likely as countries with lower proportions of young adults to the overall adult population to experience an outbreak of civil conflict. (10)The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) was created in 1969 with the support and assistance of the United States Government. Today, UNFPA is the largest multilateral source of funding, expertise, and programs targeted at voluntary family planning, promotion of safe delivery, reduction of maternal and infant mortality, and assisting women with sexual and reproductive health needs during natural and man-made emergencies. UNFPA also actively works to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS and promote the rights, education, and livelihoods of women in developing countries. (11)UNFPA has family planning and reproductive health programs in approximately 140 countries. The United States Agency for International Development operates population programs in about 60 countries. (12)In 2006, 180 countries made financial contributions to the UNFPA, including every nation in Latin America, the Caribbean, and sub-Saharan Africa. This represents an increase from the 69 nations that made contributions in 1999. The United States is the only developed nation not to make a contribution to UNFPA, and the only nation to ever withhold contributions for any reason other than budgetary considerations. (13)United States funding has been withheld from UNFPA since January 2002, despite the fact that Congress has appropriated funds for UNFPA for every fiscal year since January 2002 and the Administration’s own Independent Assessment Team of 2002 which found, [N]o 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]. We therefore recommend that not more than $34,000,000 which has already been appropriated be released to UNFPA.. (14)UNFPA’s pilot programs of assistance in China are proving—as they were designed to—the advantages of voluntary, informed, consent-based family planning over a top-down administrative approach. In 32 countries that receive UNFPA assistance, maternal deaths have declined, births with skilled attendance have increased, knowledge of HIV/AIDS has risen, knowledge of more than three modern contraceptives has risen, knowledge of natural methods has increased, surgical contraception has dropped, abortion rates have dropped from 24 per 1,000 women to 10 per 1,000 women, home-based childbirths have fallen, and choice of contraception by clients has grown. (b)

Sense of Congress

It is the sense of Congress that the United States Government should resume annual contributions to UNFPA to facilitate the core mission of UNFPA to save and improve the lives of women, infants, and men and improve communities in foreign countries.

Statement of policy

It is the policy of the United States to provide financial and other support to the United Nations Population Fund 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.

Authorization of United States voluntary contribution to UNFPA

(a)

Voluntary contribution authorized

Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the President is authorized to make a voluntary contribution on a grant basis to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), on such terms and conditions as the President may determine, to provide financial or other support to UNFPA to carry out the activities described in subsection (b). (b)

Activities described

The activities described in this subsection are to— (1)provide and distribute equipment, medicine, and supplies, and expertise, including safe delivery kits and hygiene kits, to ensure safe childbirth and emergency obstetric care; (2)make available supplies of contraceptives for the prevention of pregnancy and sexually-transmitted infections, including HIV/AIDS; (3)reduce the incidence of abortion and maternal mortality related to unsafe abortion; (4)reduce and eliminate coercive family planning practices, including coercive abortion and involuntary sterilization; (5)reduce and eliminate the incidence of 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 and such services have 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. (c)

Waiver

The President is authorized to make a voluntary contribution on a grant basis to UNFPA to provide financial or other support to UNFPA to carry out activities to respond to a natural or man-made emergency if the President determines that such activities will save human life or prevent or alleviate human suffering.

Report to Congress

(a)

Report required

The President shall transmit to the appropriate congressional committees on an annual basis for each of the fiscal years 2008 through 2012 a report on the implementation of this Act. (b)

Matters To be included

The report required by subsection (a) shall include a detailed analysis of the scope, success, and value of activities of the United Nations Population Fund, with particular emphasis on the number of lives saved, the number of abortions prevented, and success in meeting the goals of the Program of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development. (c)

Definition

In this section, the term appropriate congressional committees means— (1)the Committee on Appropriations and the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives; and (2)the Committee on Appropriations and the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate.

Authorization of appropriations

To carry out this Act, there are authorized to be appropriated to the President $50,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2008 through 2012.