Obama Administration Statements on Family Planning

President Barack Obama Source: Department of State

President Barack Obama, January 22, 2009: We are united in our determination to prevent unintended pregnancies, reduce the need for abortion, and support women and families in the choices they make. To accomplish these goals, we must work to find common ground to expand access to affordable contraception, accurate health information, and preventative services….we must also recommit ourselves more broadly to ensuring that our daughters have the same rights and opportunities as our sons: the chance to attain a world-class education; to have fulfilling careers in any industry; to be treated fairly and paid equally for their work; and to have no limits on their dreams. That is what I want for women everywhere.

President Barack Obama, January 23, 2009: It is clear that the provisions of the Mexico City Policy are unnecessarily broad and unwarranted under current law, and for the past eight years, they have undermined efforts to promote safe and effective voluntary family planning in developing countries. For these reasons, it is right for us to rescind this policy and restore critical efforts to protect and empower women and promote global economic development. For too long, international family planning assistance has been used as a political wedge issue, the subject of a back and forth debate that has served only to divide us. I have no desire to continue this stale and fruitless debate. It is time that we end the politicization of this issue…my Administration will initiate a fresh conversation on family planning, working to find areas of common ground to best meet the needs of women and families at home and around the world.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, January 23, 2009: For the past seven years, (the Mexico City) policy has made it more difficult for women around the world to gain access to essential information and healthcare services. Rather than limiting women's ability to receive reproductive health services, we should be supporting programs that help women and their partners make decisions to ensure their health and the health of their families. As I said in Beijing at the United Nations’ 4th World Conference on Women, women must not be denied the right to plan their own families. I look forward to working with the President, my colleagues in the Administration, and the NGO community to promote programs and policies that ensure women and girls have full access to health information and services.

	Secretary of State Hillary Clinton

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, April 22, 2009: Keeping women and men in ignorance and denied the access to services actually increases the rate of abortion…we are now an administration that will protect the rights of women, including their rights to reproductive health care.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, January 8, 2010: There’s a direct connection between a woman’s ability to plan her family, space her pregnancies, and give birth safely, and her ability to get an education, work outside the home, support her family, and participate fully in the life of her community. When a girl becomes a mother before she becomes literate, when a woman gives birth alone and is left with a permanent disability, when a mother toils daily to feed her large family but cannot convince her husband to agree to contraception, these struggles represent suffering that can and should be avoided.

New Environment for Family Planning and Reproductive Health

U.S. Government (USG): Priority Given to Family Planning/Reproductive Health (FP/RH)

• January 2009: Mexico City Policy rescinded by President Obama
• March 2009: UNFPA refunded by Secretary Clinton
• April 2009: USG expresses support for ICPD and the Millennium Development Goals
• May 2009: President includes Family Planning as a priority under the Global Health Initiative
• December 2009: Congress appropriates $648.5 million in funding for FP/RH in 2010 budget
• February 2010: President proposes $715 million in funding for FP/RH in 2011 request
• The 2011 request would mark the highest level of funding ever – over 50 percent higher than 2008

Importance of Family Planning

• Enables women and couples to choose timing and spacing of births
• Key intervention in reducing maternal and child mortality
• Key intervention in HIV settings
• Reduces abortion
• Improves women’s opportunities
• Enables families to invest in their children and improve their well-being
• Mitigates the impact of population growth on environment, economy, and state stability

USAID Technical Priorities

• Ensuring contraceptive security
• Expanding community-based services
• Promoting healthy timing and spacing of pregnancies
• Improving access to long-acting and permanent methods
• Increasing integration of family planning with maternal & child health interventions
• Increasing family planning integration within HIV/AIDS settings
• Cross-cutting principles:
  • Reaching the poor
  • Reducing gender inequity
  • Addressing the special needs of youth