[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 36, Number 2 (Monday, January 17, 2000)]
[Pages 27-28]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
The President's Radio Address

January 8, 2000

    Good morning. January is the time of year when many of us make New 
Year's resolutions and work hard to keep them. Today I want to talk 
about steps we're taking to keep a resolution of mine--making sure women 
and men get the health care they need to have strong children and 
healthy families.
    First, our administration has worked hard to make sure all women 
have access to prenatal care. We know when women get medical attention 
before a baby is born, that child is much more likely to be born 
healthy. And good health is the most precious gift we can offer a child 
or a family.
    Second, we worked with Congress to make sure that every woman 
covered by Federal Government health insurance has reproductive health 
care coverage--including prescription contraceptives. That was a 
significant step for more than a million American women, and it set a 
standard for insurance coverage around the country.
    Third, when I took office, we faced an epidemic of teen pregnancy--
children having children. Over the last 7 years, we've reached out to 
community groups, schools, and health professionals working in an 
amazing network of American citizens from all walks of life. And 
together, the American people have cut teen pregnancy by 15 percent.
    Fourth, we've made a broad range of family planning and sex 
education programs more widely available for all Americans. And by 
making sure women have family planning choices, we are helping to make 
abortion more rare.
    Today I'm glad to announce we will be increasing funds for family 
planning and reproductive health care by $35 million next year. My 
budget for 2001 will include $274 million in grants for clinics and 
community-

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based health services that reach more than 5 million women and families.
    That money will help make contraceptives available and keep them 
affordable. It will fund counseling for teenagers and support 
educational programs that encourage young people to postpone sexual 
activity. It will help more than 4,600 clinics screen for cancer, AIDS, 
and other diseases. And it will fund partnerships with community 
organizations and health care professionals who are reaching out to 
teenagers and others at risk.
    These services make a critical difference in people's lives. They 
help working women who otherwise could not afford medical tests that may 
save their lives. They help AIDS patients who desperately need 
counseling and assistance. They provide support and information to young 
people who may not know the basics of caring for a newborn child. They 
give women access to the full range of reproductive health care before 
and during pregnancy. It's in the interest of every American that no one 
miss out on this kind of care--and that no child miss the chance for a 
healthy start.
    America has also been a leader in providing health and family 
planning assistance for women and families in developing countries. We 
do this because it's right and because it will help build the kind of 
world we want for our own children.
    Around the world, 150 million women would like to choose the timing 
of their pregnancies, but have no access to family planning of any kind. 
In the developing world, the complications of pregnancy kill more than 
one woman every single minute, because so many lack the most basic 
health care. These are personal tragedies, and they have profound 
consequences for families and communities. Where children are born 
healthy and mothers and families gain power over their lives, 
communities are stronger; economic progress is faster; and the future is 
brighter for everyone.
    My budget for 2001 will increase funding for international family 
planning by almost $170 million. I am asking Congress to support these 
funds, and to provide them without restrictions that hamper the work of 
family planning organizations and even bar them from discussing or 
debating reproductive health policies.
    We all agree that we want to save lives, help women and children 
stay healthy, and empower families to take responsibility for their own 
choices. Supporting reproductive health and family planning is one of 
the very best ways to do that. We know it works. At home and abroad, we 
don't have a woman's life--or a child's healthy start--to waste.
    Thanks for listening.

Note: The address was recorded at 6:03 p.m. on January 7 in the Oval 
Office at the White House for broadcast at 10:06 a.m. on January 8. The 
transcript was made available by the Office of the Press Secretary on 
January 7, but was embargoed for release until the broadcast.