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The Department Of State, Foreign Operations And Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2008--Continued

Floor Speech

Date: June 21, 2007
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Science


THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE, FOREIGN OPERATIONS AND RELATED PROGRAMS APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2008--Continued -- (House of Representatives - June 21, 2007)

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Ms. McCOLLUM of Minnesota. Mr. Chairman, the Smith amendment does nothing to reinstate the Mexico City executive order. It is an executive order. What is in statute and what continues to be in statute, on page 93 of H.R. 2764, section 618, ``None of the funds may be made available to be paid for the performance of abortion as a method of family planning.''

On line 13, ``None of the funds,'' and then it goes on to say, ``may be used for the performance of involuntary sterilization as a method of family planning or to coerce or provide financial incentive to any person undergoing sterilization. None of the funds may be made available to carry out part of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, as amended, that may be used to pay for biomedical research for the performance of abortions or involuntary sterilization.'' None of the funds. None of the funds. That is all protected in here. The Smith language doesn't change anything.

President George Bush in fact himself has said that one of the best ways to prevent an abortion is to provide quality family planning programs. And here are the facts, folks.

In developing countries, 120 million married couples would like to postpone their next pregnancy or have no more children, but they don't have access to modern contraceptives. In sub-Sahara Africa, 26 percent of the women who desire to delay or end their child bearing remain without access to volunteer family planning and then they risk an unintended pregnancy. Every year more than 525,000 women die from causes related to pregnancy in childbirth, with 99 percent of these deaths occurring in developing countries. An additional 8 million women each year suffer needless complications from pregnancy and birth. And lack of spacing birth, this is really key, because I have spoken to women in Africa and in Latin America, lack of spacing birth results in intervals of 9 to 14 months, which raises the increased maternal death rate by 250 percent.

Vote for voluntary family planning. Vote for 22 more additional countries receiving voluntary planning. Vote against Smith.

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