Vermont Organizations and Faith Leaders Demand Support for International Family Planning

[beam me up scottie]

From Vermont Cares, Center for Health and Gender Equity

For Immediate Release
July 14, 2008

PRESS RELEASE

Vermont Community Organizations and Faith Leaders Urge Senator Leahy to Support Health
and Rights of Women Worldwide, Invest $1 Billion in Voluntary International Family Planning


(Vermont)—Today, local women’s rights, HIV/AIDS, social justice and student-led organizations and
faith leaders from Vermont called on Senator Patrick Leahy to support investing $1 billion in voluntary
international family planning programs and services for fiscal year 2009. The Senator serves as
Chairman of the State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Subcommittee on Appropriations and
has strong influence over setting funding priorities for international assistance. A sign-on letter was
delivered to his district and Washington, D.C. offices as the subcommittee prepares to mark up the bill.


Voluntary family planning programs are critical in enabling women and families across the world to
make safe and healthy decisions about childbearing and equipping them with the knowledge and tools to
decide when, whether, and how often to have children. These programs and services also contribute to
increasing educational opportunities for girls, narrowing social and economic disparities between men
and women, alleviating poverty and furthering women’s empowerment and the health and safety of
families overall. Despite these benefits, the U.S. Congress has cut international population assistance by
roughly 42% in real terms since 1995.


The Vermont signatories emphasized that "in the developing world, some 200 million women have an
unmet need for effective contraceptives. The lack of access to family planning programs contributes to
the unnecessary deaths of more than half a million women due to pregnancy and childbirth
complications… at least one out of five infant deaths could be averted if more women were able to
safely space childbirths through family planning. Lives undoubtedly depend on these programs."

***

Organizational signers of the letter include: AIDS Project of Vermont; ALANA Community Organization; Chellis House,
Women’s Resource Center, Middlebury College; National Association of Social Workers, Vermont Chapter; Planned
Parenthood of Northern New England; Population Media Center; RU12? Community Center; Vermont CARES; Vermont
Global Health Coalition; Vermont Law School Chapter of Law Students for Reproductive Justice; Vermont Network Against
Domestic and Sexual Violence; Vermont Public Health Association; Vermonters for a Sustainable Population; Women’s
International League for Peace and Freedom, Burlington Branch.


http://www.genderhealth.org/pubs/PR2008.Leahy.IFP.pdf">PDF of letter
http://www.genderhealth.org/">Center for Health and Gender Equality

[trotsky]

1. And hopefully one of the first things Obama does WHEN he wins...

is overturn that damn gag order, like Clinton did. And further, provided we retain control of Congress, Dems need to pass a law to make sure that gag order can't be reinstated by a simple executive order by the next Republican dunderhead.

[beam me up scottie]

2. I concur.

That was a really hard pill to swallow.

When Vermont decides to secede, I'm going home for good. :)

[cosmik debris]

3. I'm pretty sure that will disappear on day one! n/t

[LeftishBrit]

4. Vital. In a poor country, having too many children in close succession often contributes to both

infant and maternal mortality.