Symbolic (or is it?) victory for UNFPA, and against Global Gag rule

Late last night the Senate approved a 2005 foreign assistance package that restores funding for UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, and blocks the global gag rule. In doing so, the Senate took a stand for women’s health over the narrow politics of anti-choice extremists.

Millions of people benefit from UNFPA programs in more than 140 countries throughout the world. The programs are committed to ensuring that all those in need have access to reproductive health services, including birth control education and supplies, prenatal and obstetric care, and the prevention and treatment of sexually transmitted infections, including HIV/AIDS. UNFPA also works to end violence against women and to expand educational opportunities for people worldwide.

In addition to UNFPA funds, the appropriations bill protects programs that receive assistance directly from the United States by overturning the gag rule. Since the Bush administration imposed the rule its first day in office, hundreds of clinics have closed in Africa and Asia, leaving thousands of women and children in rural communities and urban slums without access to health care.

“There is nothing compassionate about withholding health care from poor women,” Feldt said. “If this administration were really committed to human rights and improving women’s health, this is the exact program they would fund.”

The loss of U.S. funds has caused UNFPA to cut programs across the globe. It is estimated that the elimination of U.S. support would likely result in an additional two million unwanted pregnancies, 800,000 abortions, 4,700 maternal deaths, 60,000 cases of serious maternal injury and illness, and more than 77,000 infant deaths each year. As a result of the gag rule on U.S. funds in Kenya, one organization was forced to close three clinics serving more than 19,000 clients.