[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 21 (Tuesday, February 25, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Page S1518]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 APPROVING THE PRESIDENTIAL FINDING REGARDING THE POPULATION PLANNING 
                                PROGRAM

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the Senator from 
Massachusetts is now recognized.
  Mr. KERRY. I thank the Chair.
  Mr. President, as my colleague from Rhode Island has mentioned, this 
afternoon, when we come out of the caucuses, we will vote on the 
vitally important issue of the release of funding for international 
population programs.
  I strongly support the President's finding which states that the 
funding restriction placed on the previously appropriated population 
funds ``is having a negative impact on the proper functioning of the 
population planning program.'' I strongly agree with that finding. The 
delayed funding, combined with the massive cuts are not only doing 
significant damage to international family planning programs, but quite 
literally is threatening the lives of thousands of women and children 
worldwide.
  I hope no one here will underestimate the importance of this vote. It 
is about values--the values we place on the importance of women's 
health, child survival, and population assistance. The vote is not 
about increasing or decreasing funds. The damage of large funding cuts 
unfortunately already has occurred. We will vote now simply on whether 
we will release previously appropriated funds for population assistance 
5 months late into the fiscal year, or 9 months late into the fiscal 
year. Let me remind my colleagues that these delays have been going on 
now for a year and a half, and the cumulative effect is extremely 
enormously negative.
  These programs are on the brink of bankruptcy and are close to 
shutting down because they have already sustained a 35-percent cut 
since 1995. In dollar figures, this means a cut from $547 million in 
1995 to $385 million in 1997, compounded by a year and a half of 
unprecedented delays in metering out that which has been appropriated 
at the trickling rate of 8 percent per month.

  This should not be a partisan issue. The health and survival of women 
and children and efforts to reduce infant mortality are not, or should 
not be, partisan issues. I joined then-Senator Alan Simpson in 
representing the United States at the 1994 International Conference on 
Population and Development in Cairo, where the United States was a 
major leader in galvanizing the international community to action. U.S. 
leadership was based on bipartisan values about international family 
planning. The conference brought together people from around the 
world--of all religious, nationality, and ethnic groups--working 
together toward responsible methods of family planning, and education, 
and to establish a platform from which to build toward the availability 
of these crucial social services in all corners of the globe. However, 
since the conference in Cairo, some Members of the United States 
Congress have made it their mission to erode the bipartisan base from 
which the U.S. pledged to lead by slashing funds and delaying the 
release of those funds. I think this is punitive, it is indefensible, 
and it is wrong.

  Today we have the opportunity to right at least a small part of this 
wrong by releasing the previously appropriated funds for population 
assistance March 1 instead of July 1. In my judgement it is a matter of 
fundamental responsibility that we approve the Presidential finding 
that confirms the harm these delays are causing families worldwide, and 
prevent further delay is making the funds available.
  Mr. President, if we do not do this, it means shutting the door to 
thousands of women and families worldwide who have asked for the 
opportunity to simply, take control of their lives and their health, 
and responsibly plan their families. We have succeeded in the difficult 
task of raising public awareness of the benefits of family planning. As 
one program coordinator in Nigeria said, ``It is one thing to raise 
public awareness but if there is no access to birth control for poor 
women, what use is awareness?'' We cannot turn our backs now. We must 
follow through. Let me stress: This vote is not about abortion, as some 
Senators have tried to argue. Opponents of family planning programs 
mistakenly believe that funds for these programs enable women to have 
abortions. That is erroneous emotionalism, Mr. President. We should 
look at the facts. The fact is that, by law, no U.S. assistance can be 
used to pay for abortions anywhere in the world. The irony is that the 
anti-abortion advocates who oppose these programs are actually 
increasing the incidence of abortions they decry by denying women the 
means to responsibly space their children. As our former colleague, 
Senator Mark Hatfield, a well respected prolife leader in support for 
population funding, articulated in a letter to Representative Chris 
Smith, * * * ``you are contributing to an increase of abortions 
worldwide because of the funding restrictions on which you insisted * * 
*. It is a proven fact that when contraceptive services are not 
available to women throughout the world, abortion rates increase.''

  I ask my colleagues, whether you are in favor of abortion or not, to 
approve the Presidential finding and the earlier release of family 
planning funds. This is assuredly a vote for women's health, because it 
will determine whether we give or deny women in impoverished countries 
a critical ingredient they need to lead healthy lives and raise healthy 
children.

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