Joe Crowley: “Madam Chairman, the provisions the gentleman seeks to strike does not promote abortion, forced sterilization or any of…”

“Madam Chairman, the provisions the gentleman seeks to strike does not promote abortion, forced sterilization or any of the other horrible things opponents of UNFPA say it will do. Madam Chairman, the underlying Crowley-Lee provision funds the U.N. Population Fund, UNFPA, in its work in over 141 countries to provide for child and maternal health, child survival, HIV/AIDS prevention, and family planning. Nearly 600,000 women die each year from causes related to pregnancy. Ninety-nine percent of those women are in the developing world. Many of these deaths could be prevented through maternal care and through family planning to space those pregnancies. The President has finished up a 5-day, five-country tour in Africa where he talked about democracy and economic opportunity, but what he did not talk about were the empowerment and equality of women. When women have the ability and access to contraception to plan their families, their economic livelihoods improve. In Bangladesh, I saw UNFPA working with women in the garment industry, educating them without contraception and showing women how limiting their births can improve their economic situation. In Malawi, I saw UNFPA work with a rural birth assistant, providing clean razor blades to cut the umbilical cord, soap and kerosine for a lantern to help rural women deliver their babies safely. Let me say what I have not seen, what UNFPA is not doing. UNFPA does not provide for abortion.”