Political Quotes

“Mr. Chairman, this vote is so important, and it is about family planning and it is against abortion. I would say to my colleagues, to reduce abortions we must increase access to family planning. I hear that this is an abortion vote. There is no logic to it. So let me just try to set the Record straight by quoting some statistics. We know from UNICEF that almost 600,000 women die annually during pregnancy and childbirth, including 75,000 due to unsafe abortions. We know that family planning services will improve the health and the status of women and it will help children. We know that population experts estimate that the 35-percent cut in our family planning programs has led to an additional 4 million unintended pregnancies and 2 million additional abortions, 2 million additional abortions, as well as 134,000 more infant deaths. The World Health Organization estimates that 40 percent of unintended pregnancies end in abortion. The World Bank estimates that improved access to family planning can reduce the number of maternal deaths annually by 20 percent. What statistics, and that is only part of it. We had a group here from Russia, and the testimony we had was that, with United States help in Russia, contraceptive use has increased from 19 to 24 percent between 1990 and 1994, and the abortion rate has dropped 25 percent. That means the number of abortions annually has dropped by 800,000.”