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Repairing Young Women’s Lives around the World Act

Our Position: support
Bill Number: HR 2114
Sponsor: Carolyn Maloney (D-NY-14)
Legislative Session: 2008

The Repairing Young Women’s Lives around the World Act would direct a voluntary $34 million U.S. contribution to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) strictly for the prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation of women with obstetric fistula, a devastating reproductive health injury that affects women and girls living in poverty in the developing world. This bipartisan legislation would save the lives of millions of women and babies around the world.

Status

The Repairing Young Women’s Lives around the World Act was introduced in the House on May 2 2007. It was then referred to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. For more information, including the full text of the bill and a complete list of co-sponsoring Representatives, click here.

Action Needed

We must build strong bipartisan support for this vital legislation.

·    Contact your Representative today and ask him or her to co-sponsor the UNFPA Women’s Health and Dignity Act (H.R. 2604).

o   Click here to find your Representative and his or her contact information.

o   Click here for a list of current co-sponsoring Representatives. If your Representative is already a co-sponsor, write or call to thank them for their leadership on this issue!

·    Help mobilize grassroots support for this legislation by getting involved with the Green-Pink Project today! Host a Sierra Club and One By One Green-Pink Party to empower women living in the developing world with access to basic rights- including health care, education and economic opportunity- and protect our global environment.

Contact

Sarah Fairchild

Global Population and Environment Program Director

sarah.fairchild@sierraclub.org

202-675-2396 

Background

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) works in over 140 countries to ensure that women have access to voluntary family planning, economic opportunities, and education. Beginning in 2002, President Bush put a temporary hold on U.S. contributions to UNFPA, citing concerns over China's family planning programs. Now, six years later, UNFPA continues to receive zero funding from the U.S. One year's withheld funding of $34 million could prevent as many as 2 million unintended pregnancies and 4,700 maternal deaths in developing countries. (1)

With the “Campaign to End Fistula,” UNFPA is leading the global effort to treat, prevent, and eradicate fistula by bringing proper maternal care and health education to poor women and girls around the world who need it. At the end of 2007, the funding withheld from UNFPA totals $127 million, a sum that could have gone to help surgeons in Africa and elsewhere perform thousands of surgical repair procedures, restoring desperate women to healthy, normal lives. UNFPA has independently raised $11 million to fight fistula, but that is far short of what is needed.