Dear Elizabeth Terry,

(July 16) --- Yesterday, Congressman Joseph Crowley's (NY) provision to refund the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) included in the State Department Authorization Act came up short in a vote in the U.S. House of Representatives.  By a narrow vote margin of 216 to 211, the Chris Smith (NJ) amendment to strike the Crowley provision was passed.  A swing of just a few votes would have prevented the failure of the House to retain the Crowley amendment that would have restored U.S. funding to UNFPA.  Click here for the final vote tally: http://capwiz.com/zpg/issues/votes/?votenum=362&chamber=H&congress=1081

Our fight is not over. Millions of couples around the world rely on UNFPA's ability to fund quality reproductive health services and international family planning advocates here in the U.S, including Population Connection, are not giving up. There are a number of ways Congress can still address this crucial matter and we fully expect them to do so in the near future.

We encourage everyone to write a quick follow up note to your House member. Emails can be sent using our online Legislative Action Center at http://capwiz.com/zpg/dbq/officials/  You can also contact him/her via the Capitol Hill switchboard at (202) 225-3121.  For those who voted "No" on the Smith amendment, please thank them for their support.  In the case of those who voted "Yes," please express your disappointment in their decision and urge them to reconsider their position. 

The nasty politics of the past two-and-a-half years has made it easy to forget that the United States was once a leader in the effort to improve the lives of women by funding international family planning. President Bush and his administration would like to convince as many people as possible that the debate about international family planning is really about abortion, but nothing could be further from the truth. Women are dying and their deaths are preventable. 1,400 women die everyday and 600,000 women die year from pregnancy-related complications.

UNFPA's work has gained the respect and financial support of every industrialized country in the world except the U.S. and yesterday's vote is very disheartening. We've led the way in promoting the values of freedom and democracy around the world, but our president and other anti-family planning extremists in Congress are willing to relegate women in developing countries to a second-class status. We can't let them succeed.

Population Connection's
Public Policy Team