Joe Crowley: “today, we here in the United States, and throughout the world, are celebrating International Women's Day. Unfortunately…”

“today, we here in the United States, and throughout the world, are celebrating International Women's Day. Unfortunately, too many women in the world today have no cause for celebration. Nearly 600,000 women die each year from complications of pregnancy and child birth. That is one woman every minute. Of these deaths, 99 percent take place in the developing world, where maternal deaths account for up to one-third of all deaths of women of child-bearing age. According to the World Health Organization, for every maternal death that occurs worldwide, an estimated 30 additional women suffer pregnancy-related health problems that can be permanently debilitating. A woman's lifetime risk of dying from pregnancy-related complications or during child birth can be as high as one in 15 in developing countries, as compared to one in 7,000 in developed countries. Mr. Speaker, more than 150 million married women in developing nations still want to space or limit child bearing but do not have access to modern contraceptives. Yet, Mr. Speaker, despite these startling estimates, the U.S. commitment to women's health remains woefully inadequate.”