Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
by Gracie Remington
Yesterday, Congresswoman Nita Lowey (D-NY) was awarded the first annual “International Family Planning Hero” title by the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, the United Nations Foundation and the Planned Parenthood Hudson Peconic for her “leadership on international family planning.” In Congress, Lowey helped to raise funding for international reproductive healthcare programs to a record high of $684.5 million in the 2010 fiscal year, fought against the global gag rule, and reinstated U.S. funding to the United Nations Population Fund. “Increasing access to maternal and reproductive health services to poor women is critical in our efforts to alleviate suffering and strengthen families around the world,” Lowey said upon accepting the award. “I am grateful for this honor and I look forward to working with Planned Parenthood and the United Nations Foundation as we continue our work to expand women’s access to comprehensive health care services.”
Lowey’s efforts are undoubtedly worthy of praise, but the actions for which she is honored prompt a variety of questions surrounding government funding both here and abroad. Although the $684.5 million promised for international reproductive healthcare programs is significant, it pales in comparison to the Department of Defense’s $533.8 billion budget. Mathematically speaking, the money alloted for reproductive health constitutes .128 percent of the DOD’s allotment for this coming year. While I understand the importance of maintaining our country’s defensive system, the limited money that focuses on international aid and, more specifically, reproductive health is disheartening. Far be it from me to start yet another conversation about how the United States should reach out to the world with aid and not with guns, but the fact remains that the record high that Lowey achieved in Congress is still far too low. Moreover, the spending on domestic reproductive healthcare, while rising, is also limited. In the government’s most recent budget, $178 million was provided for teen pregnancy prevention, while general family planning was accorded $317.5 million. Additionally, the president outlined a “family visitation” program that would cost $8.6 billion over the next ten years and would provide aid for low-income parents and pregnant women.
While I applaud the new administration’s increased focus on reproductive healthcare and its rejection of the abstinence-only programs that were a staple of the Bush administration, the facts clearly indicate that we need to revise our priorities. Infant mortality in the United States registers at 6.9 deaths per 1,000 live births, placing America near the bottom when compared with countries in Europe and the Far East. Data from 2005 reveals that one in eight births in the U.S. was preterm, as opposed to one in 18 in Finland. While we may lead the world, we continue to fail the infants who can’t be assured of receiving the best postnatal care.
In short, while I applaud Nita Lowey and her hard work, the award that she has received should inspire her to further the cause of reproductive health both here and abroad. Hopefully we can do the same.
