Skip to content
Center for Reproductive Rights
Center for Reproductive Rights

Primary Menu

  • About
    • Overview
    • Center Leadership & Staff
    • Pro Bono Program
    • Creative Council
    • Annual Reports
    • Contact Us
    • Careers
    • Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
  • Work
    • Overview
    • Litigation
    • Legal Policy and Advocacy
    • Resources & Research
    • Recent Case Highlights
    • Landmark Cases
    • World’s Abortion Laws Map
    • What if Roe Fell? U.S. Abortion Laws Map
  • Issues
    • Overview
    • Abortion
    • Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights
    • Assisted Reproduction
    • Contraception
    • Humanitarian Settings
    • Maternal Health
    • COVID-19
  • Regions
    • Overview
    • Africa
    • Asia
    • Europe
    • Latin America and the Caribbean
    • United States
    • Global Advocacy
  • News
    • Latest News
    • Center in the Spotlight
    • Events
    • Press Releases
    • Press Room
    • Newsletters
  • Resources
    • Resources & Research
    • World Abortion Laws Map
    • What if Roe Fell? U.S. Abortion Laws Map
    • Take Action Toolkit
  • Act
    • Overview
    • Give
    • Act
    • Learn
  • Donate
    • Make a Gift Now
    • Be a Champion
    • Join the Advocates Council
    • Become a Major Donor
    • Give Through Your Donor-Advised Fund
    • Make a Gift In Honor
    • Attend an Event
    • Leave a Legacy
    • More Ways to Give
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • YouTube
  • LinkedIn
Donate
icon-hamburger icon-magnifying-glass Donate
icon-magnifying-glass-teal
Center for Reproductive Rights - Center for Reproductive Rights - search logo
search Close Close icon
Center for Reproductive Rights -
Menu Close Menu Close icon
Donate

Primary Menu

  • About
    • Overview
    • Center Leadership & Staff
    • Pro Bono Program
    • Creative Council
    • Annual Reports
    • Contact Us
    • Careers
    • Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
  • Work
    • Overview
    • Litigation
    • Legal Policy and Advocacy
    • Resources & Research
    • Recent Case Highlights
    • Landmark Cases
    • World’s Abortion Laws Map
    • What if Roe Fell? U.S. Abortion Laws Map
  • Issues
    • Overview
    • Abortion
    • Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights
    • Assisted Reproduction
    • Contraception
    • Humanitarian Settings
    • Maternal Health
    • COVID-19
  • Regions
    • Overview
    • Africa
    • Asia
    • Europe
    • Latin America and the Caribbean
    • United States
    • Global Advocacy
  • News
    • Latest News
    • Center in the Spotlight
    • Events
    • Press Releases
    • Press Room
    • Newsletters
  • Resources
    • Resources & Research
    • World Abortion Laws Map
    • What if Roe Fell? U.S. Abortion Laws Map
    • Take Action Toolkit
  • Act
    • Overview
    • Give
    • Act
    • Learn
  • Donate
    • Make a Gift Now
    • Be a Champion
    • Join the Advocates Council
    • Become a Major Donor
    • Give Through Your Donor-Advised Fund
    • Make a Gift In Honor
    • Attend an Event
    • Leave a Legacy
    • More Ways to Give
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • YouTube
  • LinkedIn

Related Content

Issues:

Adolescent SRHR, Sex Education

Regions:

United States, Accountability Bodies, United Nations

Work:

Reporting on Rights

Type:

Publications, Fact Sheets

Follow the Center

Donate Now

Join Now

  • Hidden

06.01.2003

Reporting on Rights Adolescent SRHR United States Publications

International Family Planning and Reproductive Health

Justin Goldberg

Share this Story

  • facebook
  • Twitter
  • linkedin
  • Email id


International family planning and reproductive health and programs funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) population program and UNFPA (United Nations Population Fund) provide health care choices that assist women in realizing their universal human rights. The right to health, including reproductive health care, and the right to decide freely and responsibly the number and spacing of one’s children, are well established under international law. However, U.S. support for desperately-needed programs in low and middle income countries to ensure these rights has been inconsistent, insufficient and mired with burdensome restrictions. Since 1995, Congress has significantly reduced funds for international family planning, and increased restrictions on these crucial reproductive health programs.


Reproductive Rights Are Human Rights


International human rights treaties affirm that reproductive rights, including the right to health, the right to family planning, the right to reproductive self-determination, and the principle of non-discrimination, are human rights. Lack of access to reproductive health services and information constitutes a violation of these basic human rights principles. The rights to family planning and health were first articulated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and were refined in subsequent human rights treaties adopted by the international community:


,



  • The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, ratified by the U.S. in 1992, states that men and women of marriageable age have the right to marry and found a family.

    ,



  • The first human rights treaty to require nations to recognize a right to health and to take steps to achieve the realization of that right for the benefit of families was the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

    ,



  • Women’s rights to health and family planning services and information, in particular, are addressed in the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women.

    ,



  • The Convention on the Rights of the Child reiterates the right to maternal health and identifies it as a right intrinsically related to the right to health for children.


During the 1990s, a series of international conferences recognized reproductive rights, including the right to family planning information and services, as critical both for advancing women’s human rights and for promoting development. Building on principles articulated at earlier conferences — dating back to 1968 — the international community, including the U.S., made commitments of political will and resources to realizing and securing these rights. At the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in Cairo and the 1995 Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, and their five-year reviews, the international community and the U.S. unequivocally endorsed reproductive rights as human rights.


Human Rights and U.S. Foreign Policy


The promotion of human rights is an important aspect of U.S. foreign policy, including foreign assistance. Although Congress and the President have broad discretion to determine whether to provide foreign assistance and to whom, this discretion must be consistent with the Foreign Assistance Act (FAA), which provides that the United States:


shall, in accordance with its international obligations as set forth in the Charter of the United Nations and in keeping with the constitutional heritage and traditions of the United States, promote and encourage increased respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms throughout the world. . . . Accordingly, a principal goal of the foreign policy of the United States shall be to promote the increased observance of internationally recognized human rights by all countries.1


The United States’ continued insufficient funding levels and restrictions on family planning contravene a “principal goal of the foreign policy of the United States.” In addition, these policies severely curtail the ability of low-income nations to ensure their citizens’ rights to health, family planning, and reproductive self-determination. By inhibiting the ability of these nations to protect human rights, the U.S. directly contradicts the spirit of the FAA, which seeks to promote development, as well as increased observance of internationally recognized human rights by other nations.


U.S. Financial Commitments to Reproductive Rights


Recognizing “the interrelationship between . . . population growth, and . . . development and overall improvement in living standards in developing countries,” the U.S. began its family planning assistance program over 30 years ago. In a bipartisan effort, Congress expanded the FAA to authorize the President to provide assistance for voluntary family planning and health programs. The U.S. family planning program has contributed significantly to increasing the use of modern contraceptive methods from under 10 percent in the 1960s to 50 percent today, helping to reduce high-risk pregnancies and abortions and saving the lives of hundreds of thousands of women.


During international conferences such as 1994’s ICPD, the U.S recognized the critical role that international assistance plays in achieving important goals regarding population and development. The ICPD estimated that approximately $17 billion would be required in the year 2000 to meet the need for international family planning and reproductive health services, including $5.7 billion from donor countries. However, donor contributions have stagnated at around $2 billion per year, significantly below the amount needed to provide sufficient resources to low-income countries. Donor countries, including the U.S., also committed to official development assistance at a level of 0.7 percent of gross national product, with part of that going toward family planning.


Unfulfilled Commitments


Because of its size and wealth, the U.S. remains one of the largest bilateral donors to international family planning programs, however, the U.S. ranks last out of 22 major donors in its contribution relative to gross national product (GNP). In fiscal year 1999, the U.S. provided a mere 0.1 percent of its GNP for official development assistance, a figure that has actually declined in recent years despite the international pledges to meet higher goals, falling far short of the 0.7 percent of GNP endorsed by the international community.


Appropriations for USAID family planning assistance plummeted from $541.6 million in fiscal year (FY) 1995 to $356 million in FY 1996. Research organizations conservatively estimated that this 35% reduction in funding resulted in 4 million unplanned pregnancies, 1.6 million abortions, 8,000 maternal deaths, and 134,000 infant deaths due to increased high-risk births. Although the funding level rose to $446.5 million in FY 2003, the Bush Administration’s reduced request of $425 for FY 2004 show a lack of commitment to family planning programs.


The U.S. has also been a leader in funding the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) which works in over 140 countries to provide crucially needed funding for reproductive health services. Tragically, in 2002, President Bush eliminated funding for UNFPA due to pressure from extreme anti-choice legislators who claimed that the program was involved with coercive abortion in China. The president cut UNFPA funding despite the fact that a team appointed by the White House to investigate the allegations found no evidence to support them and recommended that the United States continue to fund UNFPA. The president’s decision also flew in the face of a bi-partisan agreement to raise the U.S. funding level for UNFPA to $34 million just weeks before. The $34 million from the United States would have allowed the agency to prevent 2 million unwanted pregnancies and more than 77,000 infant and child deaths, according to UNFPA estimates 2. Many Members of Congress from both parties have protested the president’s decision and are currently working on an agreement to fully fund UNFPA.


Funding levels for USAID Family Planning, 1995-2003


FY 1995 $541.6 million
FY 1996 $356 million
FY 1997 $385 million
FY 1998 $385 million
FY 1999 $385 million
FY 2000 $372.5 million
FY 2001 $425 million
FY 2002 $446.5 million
FY 2003 $446.5 million
President Bush’s request for FY 2004 $425 million


Conclusion


Cuts and restrictions on funding will continue to cause a significant increase in unplanned pregnancies, abortions, maternal and infant deaths, and transmissions of HIV and other sexually transmissible infections. The United States’ inadequate provision of foreign aid for family planning, and the existing restrictions on such aid, undermine the leadership role of the U.S.


We urge Congress to revitalize U.S. leadership in international reproductive rights through an increase in funding – without undemocratic restrictions – for family planning and reproductive health assistance.


1 Foreign Assistance Act, U.S. Code, 22, secs. 2304(a)(1) (1994).
2 United Nations Population Fund Press Release, July 22, 2002. See www.unfpa.org…


Related Posts

Capacity and Consent: Empowering Adolescents to Exercise their Reproductive Rights

With adolescents and youth constituting a quarter of the global population – for a total of 1.8 billion people –...

Adolescent SRHR,Accountability Bodies, United Nations,Reporting on Rights
Capacity and Consent: Empowering Adolescents to Exercise their Reproductive Rights

Shadow Letter on Nepal to UN Committee on the Rights of the Child

Adolescent SRHR,Asia, Nepal, Accountability Bodies, United Nations,At the United Nations, Engaging Policymakers, Around the World, Reporting on Rights

UN Committee on the Rights of the Child: Concluding observations on the third to fifth periodic reports of Nepal

Adolescent SRHR,Asia, Nepal, Accountability Bodies, United Nations,At the United Nations, Engaging Policymakers, Around the World, Reporting on Rights

Sign up for our newsletter.

The most up-to-date news on reproductive rights, delivered straight to you.

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Footer Menu

  • Careers
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact Us

Center for Reproductive Rights
© (1992-2021)

Use of this site signifies agreement with our disclaimer and privacy policy.

Center for Reproductive Rights
This site uses necessary, analytics and social media cookies to improve your experience and deliver targeted advertising. Click "Options" or click here to learn more and customize your cookie settings, otherwise please click "Accept" to proceed.
OPTIONSACCEPT
Manage consent

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Functional
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
Performance
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Analytics
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
CookieDurationDescription
_ga2 yearsThis cookie is installed by Google Analytics. The cookie is used to calculate visitor, session, campaign data and keep track of site usage for the site's analytics report. The cookies store information anonymously and assign a randomly generated number to identify unique visitors.
_gat_UA-6619340-11 minuteNo description
_gid1 dayThis cookie is installed by Google Analytics. The cookie is used to store information of how visitors use a website and helps in creating an analytics report of how the wbsite is doing. The data collected including the number visitors, the source where they have come from, and the pages viisted in an anonymous form.
_parsely_session30 minutesThis cookie is used to track the behavior of a user within the current session.
HotJar: _hjAbsoluteSessionInProgress30 minutesNo description
HotJar: _hjFirstSeen30 minutesNo description
HotJar: _hjid1 yearThis cookie is set by Hotjar. This cookie is set when the customer first lands on a page with the Hotjar script. It is used to persist the random user ID, unique to that site on the browser. This ensures that behavior in subsequent visits to the same site will be attributed to the same user ID.
HotJar: _hjIncludedInPageviewSample2 minutesNo description
HotJar: _hjIncludedInSessionSample2 minutesNo description
HotJar: _hjTLDTestsessionNo description
SSCVER1 year 24 daysThe domain of this cookie is owned by Nielsen. The cookie is used for online advertising by creating user profile based on their preferences.
Advertisement
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
CookieDurationDescription
_fbp3 monthsThis cookie is set by Facebook to deliver advertisement when they are on Facebook or a digital platform powered by Facebook advertising after visiting this website.
fr3 monthsThe cookie is set by Facebook to show relevant advertisments to the users and measure and improve the advertisements. The cookie also tracks the behavior of the user across the web on sites that have Facebook pixel or Facebook social plugin.
IDE1 year 24 daysUsed by Google DoubleClick and stores information about how the user uses the website and any other advertisement before visiting the website. This is used to present users with ads that are relevant to them according to the user profile.
IMRID1 year 24 daysThe domain of this cookie is owned by Nielsen. The cookie is used for storing the start and end of the user session for nielsen statistics. It helps in consumer profiling for online advertising.
personalization_id2 yearsThis cookie is set by twitter.com. It is used integrate the sharing features of this social media. It also stores information about how the user uses the website for tracking and targeting.
TDID1 yearThe cookie is set by CloudFare service to store a unique ID to identify a returning users device which then is used for targeted advertising.
test_cookie15 minutesThis cookie is set by doubleclick.net. The purpose of the cookie is to determine if the user's browser supports cookies.
Others
Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet.
CookieDurationDescription
adEdition1 dayNo description
akaas_MSNBC10 daysNo description
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional1 yearThe cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others1 yearNo description
geoEdition1 dayNo description
next-i18next1 yearNo description
SAVE & ACCEPT
Powered by CookieYes Logo
Scroll Up