[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 12 (Tuesday, February 4, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Page S926]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     THE PRESIDENT'S CERTIFICATION ON INTERNATIONAL FAMILY PLANNING

  Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, on Friday, January 31, the President 
submitted to the Congress a certification that merits the support of 
all Members of Congress who wish to see improvements in the quality of 
life of women and families around the world.
  The President has certified that the restrictions imposed by Congress 
in the fiscal year 1997 appropriations legislation are ``having a 
negative impact on the functioning of the population planning 
program.'' Congress's approval of that certification would allow fiscal 
year 1997 family planning funds to be released at a rate of 8 percent 
per month beginning March 1 rather than July 1. Population programs 
around the world have not received any U.S. fiscal year 1997 funding 
even though the fiscal year began October 1, 1996, so approval of this 
resolution would simply reduce the delay of the funds' release from 9 
months to 5.
  U.S. contributions to family planning programs have immeasurably 
improved the lives of women in developing countries. The ability to 
plan the size of one's family is essential if women and children are to 
live longer and healthier lives and if women are to make the 
educational and economic gains they and we wish to see.
  The Rockefeller Foundation released a report last week documenting 
the effectiveness of the family planning programs the United States 
supports. The report noted that the percentage of women in developing 
countries using contraception in the past three decades has grown from 
10 to 50 percent, and the average number of children they have borne 
has dropped from 6 to 3.
  Mr. President, there is a growing clamor that Congress is about to 
cast its first abortion vote of the 105th Congress when it votes on the 
President's certification. Nothing could be further from the truth. The 
truth is that Congress voted to cut U.S. contributions to population 
planning programs by 35 percent from fiscal year 1995 to fiscal year 
1997 and then imposed a series of harsh metering requirements on the 
rate at which the money could be spent. This vote would simply remove 
one of the harshest requirements--that the funding be delayed by an 
additional 4 months.
  It is tragic that the impact of these cutbacks and restrictions has 
been to increase the number of abortions. At a time when the number of 
women of childbearing age is increasing by 2.3 percent, or 24 million, 
per year, the United States is reducing its commitment to programs that 
reduce the incidence of abortion.
  The close relationship between family planning and abortion is clear. 
In Russia, for example, the Russian Department of Health reports that 
the use of contraceptives grew from 19 to 24 percent between 1990 and 
1994 with the establishment of 50 International Planned Parenthood 
Federation affiliates across Russia. During that time period, the 
number of abortions performed dropped from 3.6 to 2.8 million. In 
Colombia and Mexico, USAID has long been a major donor to their family 
planning programs. In Bogota, a one-third increase in use of all forms 
of contraception between 1976 and 1986 accompanied a 45-percent drop in 
the abortion rate. In Mexico City and the surrounding region, the use 
of all forms of contraception increased 24 percent between 1987 and 
1992, while the abortion rate fell 39 percent.
  Helping to provide women with the means to prevent pregnancy is a far 
better alternative than contributing to a situation in which they must 
choose between bringing a child into the world for whom they too often 
have neither the physical nor financial means to care, and obtaining an 
abortion that is often illegal and unsafe. No woman wants to face that 
choice.
  The statistics clearly document this problem. UNICEF's 1996 ``The 
Progress of Nations'' reported that each year, 600,000 women die of 
pregnancy-related causes, 75,000 of them associated with self-induced, 
unsafe abortions. These women leave behind at least 1 million 
motherless children. In addition, an estimated 34,000 children under 
age 5 in developing countries die every day--a number that would surely 
decline if mothers were able to space the births of their children to 
improve the health and nutrition they can provide them.
  I urge my colleagues to support this Presidential certification to 
reduce the most onerous restrictions on U.S. contributions to 
international family planning programs when it comes up for a vote this 
month.

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