Dianne Feinstein: “I recently returned from a few days in Nepal. If you go to Nepal, you will see that about 35 percent of the children die…”

“I recently returned from a few days in Nepal. If you go to Nepal, you will see that about 35 percent of the children die before the age of 5, and they die before the age of 5 because they are impoverished. They don't have enough food, and they die. This is true in many areas, particularly undeveloped countries, all around the world. I think that one of the most important and effective components of U.S. foreign assistance has been our family planning programs. I believe these programs reduce poverty, I believe they improve health, I believe they raise living standards around the world, and they enhance, certainly, the ability of couples and individuals to determine the number and spacing of their children. I think many of us in this country take that opportunity for granted. Most of us have had the freedom to make choices about how we live our lives by planning the size of our families. But in poorer countries where contraceptive options are not available, women have much higher birth rates, and the more children they have, the higher the poverty rates. Children are malnourished, many get sick, many die. UNICEF estimates that 34,000 children under the age of 5 die every day--every day--in developing countries.”