I 
110TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2604 
To provide financial and other support to the United Nations Population 
Fund to carry out activities to save women’s lives, limit the incidence 
of abortion and maternal mortality associated with unsafe abortion, pro-
mote universal access to safe and reliable family planning, and assist 
women, children, and men in developing countries to live better lives. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JUNE 7, 2007 
Mr. CROWLEY introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Foreign Affairs 
A BILL 
To provide financial and other support to the United Nations 
Population Fund to carry out activities to save women’s 
lives, limit the incidence of abortion and maternal mor-
tality associated with unsafe abortion, promote universal 
access to safe and reliable family planning, and assist 
women, children, and men in developing countries to 
live better lives. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘United Nations Popu-
lation Fund Women’s Health and Dignity Act’’. 
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SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND SENSE OF CONGRESS. 
(a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 
(1) Sexual and reproductive health problems ac-
count for an estimated 10 percent of the total global 
burden of disease and 32 percent of the burden 
among women of reproductive age. 
(2) More than four in 10 of the world’s preg-
nant women still have no access to skilled care at 
childbirth. Every minute, a woman somewhere dies 
in pregnancy or childbirth—529,000 deaths a year. 
Ninety-five percent of maternal deaths occur in Afri-
ca and Asia while fewer that one percent occur in 
the more developed regions of the world. 
(3) A million or more children are left mother-
less each year as a result of maternal mortality. 
These children are three to 10 times more likely to 
die within two years than children who live with both 
parents. Almost half of infant deaths per year result 
from poor maternal health and inadequate delivery 
care. 
(4) Roughly 201 million women in low-income 
countries would use safe, effective contraceptive 
methods but such methods are not available to such 
women, including 25 percent of married women in 
sub-Saharan Africa. If these women had access to 
reliable family planning services, approximately 52 
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million unplanned pregnancies would be avoided in 
the developing world every year, resulting in 23 mil-
lion unplanned births, 22 million induced abortions, 
7 million spontaneous abortions, 1.4 million infant 
deaths, 142,000 pregnancy-related deaths, and 
505,000 children from losing their mothers. 
(5) Each day 14,000 people are infected with 
HIV. One-half of all new HIV infections occur in 
women. In some places women are six times more 
likely to be infected than men. 
(6) Access to voluntary family planning serv-
ices, including contraception, is essential in helping 
to reduce the number of unintended pregnancies 
and, consequently, the incidence of abortion. 
(7) In the process of helping women to achieve 
their childbearing goals, enormous amounts of gov-
ernment funds are saved. A study in Mexico found 
that for every peso the Mexican social security sys-
tem spent on voluntary family planning services be-
tween 1972 and 1984, it saved nine pesos in ex-
penses for treating complications of unsafe abortions 
and providing maternal and infant care. Every dollar 
invested in Thailand’s voluntary family planning 
program saved the Thai Government more than $16. 
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(8) The growing global population and its con-
sumption patterns have profound consequences for 
the global environment, including species extinction, 
deforestation, desertification, climate change, and 
the destruction of natural ecosystems. These global 
environmental impacts pose a significant threat to 
the earth’s sustainability and impact the quality of 
life of humans in all regions of the world. 
(9) Demographic factors have been found to be 
linked to an increased likelihood of the outbreak of 
civil conflict during the 1990s. Countries in which 
young adults comprised more than 40 percent of the 
adult population were more than twice as likely as 
countries with lower proportions of young adults to 
the overall adult population to experience an out-
break of civil conflict. 
(10) The United Nations Population Fund 
(UNFPA) was created in 1969 with the support and 
assistance of the United States Government. Today, 
UNFPA is the largest multilateral source of fund-
ing, expertise, and programs targeted at voluntary 
family planning, promotion of safe delivery, reduc-
tion of maternal and infant mortality, and assisting 
women with sexual and reproductive health needs 
during natural and man-made emergencies. UNFPA 
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also actively works to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS 
and promote the rights, education, and livelihoods of 
women in developing countries. 
(11) UNFPA has family planning and repro-
ductive health programs in approximately 140 coun-
tries. The United States Agency for International 
Development operates population programs in about 
60 countries. 
(12) In 2006, 180 countries made financial con-
tributions to the UNFPA, including every nation in 
Latin America, the Caribbean, and sub-Saharan Af-
rica. This represents an increase from the 69 na-
tions that made contributions in 1999. The United 
States is the only developed nation not to make a 
contribution to UNFPA, and the only nation to ever 
withhold contributions for any reason other than 
budgetary considerations. 
(13) United States funding has been withheld 
from UNFPA since January 2002, despite the fact 
that Congress has appropriated funds for UNFPA 
for every fiscal year since January 2002 and the Ad-
ministration’s own Independent Assessment Team of 
2002 which found, ‘‘[N]o evidence that UNFPA has 
knowingly supported or participated in the manage-
ment of a program of coercive abortion or involun-
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tary sterilization in the [People’s Republic of China]. 
We therefore recommend that not more than 
$34,000,000 which has already been appropriated be 
released to UNFPA.’’. 
(14) UNFPA’s pilot programs of assistance in 
China are proving—as they were designed to—the 
advantages of voluntary, informed, consent-based 
family planning over a top-down administrative ap-
proach. In 32 countries that receive UNFPA assist-
ance, maternal deaths have declined, births with 
skilled attendance have increased, knowledge of 
HIV/AIDS has risen, knowledge of more than three 
modern contraceptives has risen, knowledge of nat-
ural methods has increased, surgical contraception 
has dropped, abortion rates have dropped from 24 
per 1,000 women to 10 per 1,000 women, home- 
based childbirths have fallen, and choice of contra-
ception by clients has grown. 
(b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con-
gress that the United States Government should resume 
annual contributions to UNFPA to facilitate the core mis-
sion of UNFPA to save and improve the lives of women, 
infants, and men and improve communities in foreign 
countries. 
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SEC. 3. STATEMENT OF POLICY. 
It is the policy of the United States to provide finan-
cial and other support to the United Nations Population 
Fund to carry out activities to save women’s lives, limit 
the incidence of abortion and maternal mortality associ-
ated with unsafe abortion, promote universal access to 
safe and reliable family planning, and assist women, chil-
dren, and men in developing countries to live better lives. 
SEC. 4. AUTHORIZATION OF UNITED STATES VOLUNTARY 
CONTRIBUTION TO UNFPA. 
(a) VOLUNTARY CONTRIBUTION AUTHORIZED.—Not-
withstanding any other provision of law, the President is 
authorized to make a voluntary contribution on a grant 
basis to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), 
on such terms and conditions as the President may deter-
mine, to provide financial or other support to UNFPA to 
carry out the activities described in subsection (b). 
(b) ACTIVITIES
DESCRIBED.—The activities de-
scribed in this subsection are to— 
(1) provide and distribute equipment, medicine, 
and supplies, and expertise, including safe delivery 
kits and hygiene kits, to ensure safe childbirth and 
emergency obstetric care; 
(2) make available supplies of contraceptives for 
the prevention of pregnancy and sexually-trans-
mitted infections, including HIV/AIDS; 
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(3) reduce the incidence of abortion and mater-
nal mortality related to unsafe abortion; 
(4) reduce and eliminate coercive family plan-
ning practices, including coercive abortion and invol-
untary sterilization; 
(5) reduce and eliminate the incidence of sex 
selection; 
(6) prevent and treat cases of obstetric fistula; 
(7) promote abandonment of harmful tradi-
tional practices, including female genital cutting and 
child marriage; 
(8) reestablish maternal health services in areas 
where medical infrastructure and such services have 
been destroyed by natural disasters; and 
(9) promote the access of unaccompanied 
women and other vulnerable people to vital services, 
including access to water, sanitation facilities, food, 
and health care, in emergency situations. 
(c) WAIVER.—The President is authorized to make 
a voluntary contribution on a grant basis to UNFPA to 
provide financial or other support to UNFPA to carry out 
activities to respond to a natural or man-made emergency 
if the President determines that such activities will save 
human life or prevent or alleviate human suffering. 
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SEC. 5. REPORT TO CONGRESS. 
(a) REPORT REQUIRED.—The President shall trans-
mit to the appropriate congressional committees on an an-
nual basis for each of the fiscal years 2008 through 2012 
a report on the implementation of this Act. 
(b) MATTERS TO BE INCLUDED.—The report re-
quired by subsection (a) shall include a detailed analysis 
of the scope, success, and value of activities of the United 
Nations Population Fund, with particular emphasis on the 
number of lives saved, the number of abortions prevented, 
and success in meeting the goals of the Program of Action 
of the International Conference on Population and Devel-
opment. 
(c) DEFINITION.—In this section, the term ‘‘appro-
priate congressional committees’’ means— 
(1) the Committee on Appropriations and the 
Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Rep-
resentatives; and 
(2) the Committee on Appropriations and the 
Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate. 
SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 
To carry out this Act, there are authorized to be ap-
propriated to the President $50,000,000 for each of the 
fiscal years 2008 through 2012. 
Æ 
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