Sec. 1331. Assistance for family planning and reproductive health
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Congress finds that— reproductive health care is essential to reducing poverty, improving living standards and protecting human dignity; throughout much of the world, the lack of access by women, particularly poor women, to reproductive health care contributes to death and suffering, limits women’s ability to make decisions that affect their lives, and undermines the efforts of families to lift themselves out of poverty; access to reproductive health care, including voluntary family planning, has a direct and important impact on child mortality, especially infant mortality; closely spaced and ill-timed pregnancies and births contribute to high infant mortality rates, and when mothers die as a result of giving birth, their surviving infants have a greater risk of mortality and poor health status; in many developing countries where there are few hospitals, few doctors, and poor transportation systems, and where women are not highly valued, complications of labor often result in death of the mother; lack of availability of emergency obstetric care, along with delays in seeking medical attention, in reaching a medical facility, and in receiving medical care once arriving at a facility, contribute to the development of obstetric fistula, increasing the risk of death for both mother and child; voluntary family planning allows women and couples to freely choose the number, timing and spacing of pregnancies, giving families and individuals greater control over their lives; young people are particularly at risk of engaging in unsafe sexual practices, and should be provided with clear and evidence-based information to help them make informed decisions about their sexual and reproductive health and human rights, including their right to be free from all forms of violence, coercion and discrimination; practices such as child marriage and female genital cutting can harm the health of young people and deprive them of their dignity and human rights.
Reproductive health care can play an important role in educating people about the dangers of these practices, and is often the entry point for identification of gender-based violence and sexual abuse; integrating reproductive health care, including voluntary family planning, with HIV prevention programs is critical to combating HIV/AIDS, and can assist in decreasing the stigma associated with a seropositive HIV status; integration of reproductive health care with other health-care and related social services increases the effectiveness and efficiency of the health system and meets people’s needs for accessible, acceptable, convenient, client-centered care; international goals and targets for reducing poverty and improving maternal health require a significant investment in family planning and reproductive health care; international partnerships are required to provide adequate financing for family planning and reproductive health care; cooperating with multilateral and bilateral donors and the private sector can make commodities such as antiretrovirals, maternal health equipment, and contraceptive supplies more accessible for hard-to-reach populations; and by investing in reproductive health care, including voluntary family planning, the United States can improve maternal and child health, lower HIV infection rates, reduce poverty and hunger, advance girls’ education, promote gender equality, broaden civic participation in the development process, and slow the depletion of natural resources.
The Administrator is authorized to use funds made available under this chapter for reproductive health care programs, including voluntary family planning, in partner countries.