[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 12 (Tuesday, February 4, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E128]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




[[Page E128]]



                      ``POPULATION STILL MATTERS''

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. CONSTANCE A. MORELLA

                              of maryland

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, February 4, 1997

  Mrs. MORELLA. Mr. Speaker, the first foreign policy vote of the 105th 
Congress may well take place in the first week of February. This vote 
will determine the rate of expenditure of appropriated funds for 
international population assistance. It will have a significant impact 
on the quality of life for men, women, and children all over the world. 
I place in the Congressional Record for the consideration of my 
colleagues an editorial from the Baltimore Sun that appeared Saturday, 
January 18, 1997.

                        Population Still Matters

       Recent reports indicate that world population growth has 
     slowed, and that is good news. But with the number of women 
     of childbearing age increasing by 24 million each year, there 
     needs to be a similar increase in the availability of 
     voluntary family planning programs to maintain the slower 
     rates of growth.
       Unfortunately, Congress has put restrictions on U.S. aid to 
     voluntary family planning programs, including unconscionable 
     delays in releasing the funds. Next month, after President 
     Clinton certifies that the funding delays are ``having a 
     negative impact on the proper functioning'' of the programs, 
     both Houses of Congress will have a chance to approve the 
     finding. If they do, family planning aid can begin flowing 
     again March 1, rather than waiting until July.
       Congressional votes on family planning often get tangled up 
     with abortion. But these votes, having to do only with the 
     timing of the release of funds already appropriated, provide 
     a clean vote on support for voluntary family planning. They 
     have nothing to do with abortion.
       Population growth in itself is not a bad thing. But without 
     rises in incomes and purchasing power in the developing 
     countries where most of this increase occurs, continued 
     growth in the world economy could be threatened. And as 
     population puts pressures on land, firewood and other rural 
     resources, poor people flock to cities, creating even more 
     stress on fragile water, sanitary and social service 
     infrastructures. In developing countries, cities usually grow 
     twice as fast as the population as a whole. Anyone familiar 
     with Mexico City, Manila or any other megalopolis knows what 
     that can do to the quality of life in urban areas.
       But the strongest argument for family planning aid is the 
     beneficial effect it has on the health of mothers and their 
     children. Voluntary programs often provide the only 
     reproductive health care available to women in developing 
     countries.
       By spacing their children two years apart, these women are 
     able to increase the chances that their infants will survive, 
     while helping them preserve their own health. About 600,000 
     women die in childbirth every year, leaving millions of 
     orphans. And each year some 15 million pregnant women are 
     left with debilitating injuries, infections or other 
     complications. That is too heavy a toll to sacrifice to 
     ideological posturing to please domestic constituencies.

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