Contact: Lisa Correnti, Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute (C-FAM), 202-393-7002, lisa@c-fam.org
LONDON, July 6, 2012 /Christian Newswire/ -- The London Summit on Family Planning
convened by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in London on July 11
plans to raise billions of dollars for family planning and population
control groups. It also expects commitments from governments to
overthrow "barriers" to contraception such as parental involvement and
religious beliefs – the same obstacles that exist for abortion – and for
"all members of the global community" to fund and advocate for
contraception.
C-FAM is sending a team to London to cover the Summit and outlying events.
"This
is a new chapter in the population control movement. Elite billionaires
and powerful governments use the guise of 'helping poor women' to
extract permanent funding for abortion-promoting and population control
groups. Contraception will have a higher priority than education, basic
health care, infrastructure, and economic improvements – diverting
funding from measures that empower women and communities. None of the
contraception programs help pregnant women or newborns," said Wendy
Wright, Interim Executive Director of C-FAM.
Summit
backers claim 215 million women have an "unmet need" for contraception.
This includes women who choose not to use contraception because of
dislike of side effects, infrequent sexual activity, or religious
objections. Women who have no expressed desire for contraceptives are
reported as needing it – along with women "who require motivation to
want what they are presumed to need," says Harvard professor Lant
Pritchett.
The
World Bank reports, "unmet need should not be equated with the lack of
access to contraception . . . women with unmet need may still not have
any intention to use contraception were it readily accessible and of
good quality."
"This
explains the Summit's overbearing goal to 'increase demand' for
contraception. It is a stark admission that many of the targeted women
don't want what the elites are pushing," said Wright.
The
USAID budget for Family Planning & Reproductive Services is $524
million. This is more than the budgets for tuberculosis, public health
threats, pandemic influenza, vulnerable children, and nutrition
combined. USAID is budgeted to cut maternal and child health funding by
$28 million, including reductions to nutrition programs while budget
requests for family planning have increased.
For more information "4 Problems with the London Family Planning Summit" Fact Sheet is available at c-fam.org
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