The swearing-in yesterday of President Obama signals, no doubt, a major shift in U.S. policy on international family planning. It's widely believed that the President will act swiftly to repeal the Mexico City "gag rule" that was re-imposed by President George W. Bush eight years ago. Less certain is what the Administration will do with respect to funding for U.S. international family planning assistance.
As a Senator last year, Obama supported efforts to boost funding to $1 billion in FY 2009, up sharply from the $450 million appropriated in FY 2008. Based upon his prior support for international family planning assistance, it's been widely anticipated that the new Administration would support a major boost in funding in the FY2010 budget. But with a ballooning federal deficit and an urgent need for economic stimuli, it's possible that family planning could be accorded a lower than expected priority.
Last week, however, five former directors of the Population and Reproductive Health Program of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) issued a strong appeal for increased U.S. support for international family planning. Noting that U.S. support for family planning has diminished, in real dollar terms, since 1995, they released a report ("Making the Case for U.S. International Family Planning Assistance") that argued that it is time to "reverse the decline."
After noting that USAID over the past four decades has been a "leader in efforts to both improve maternal and child health around the world and reduce high population growth rates," the authors recommended a "FY 2010 appropriation of $1.205 billion for international family planning assistance, rising gradually to $1.5 billion by 2014." The report also urged the Obama Administration to "reassert U.S. leadership in family planning" and work more closely with UNFPA and other international agencies.
Support from the five former directors of the Population and Reproductive Health Program (J. Joseph Speidel, (1978-83), Steven Sinding (1983-86), Duff Gillespie (1986-93), Elizabeth Maguire (1993-99), and Margaret Neuse (2000-06)) is expected to bolster Congressional support for international family planning assistance. The authors argued that USAID continues to have a "technically strong core of professionals" and the capacity to rapidly scale up its operations.
Later this year, the Population Resource Center will be conducting a series of briefings for Congress on the status of U.S. support for international family planning assistance. The briefings will look at this report and others that have attempted to quantify the unmet demand in developing countries for modern methods of birth control.
