Title: Support UNFPA Funding Act
Policy area: International Affairs

Summary:
Support UNFPA Funding Act
This bill authorizes annual contributions to support the core functions and programs of the United Nations Population Fund for the five fiscal years following the bill's enactment.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4722 Introduced in House (IH)]

<DOC>






116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 4722

 To authorize contributions to the United Nations Population Fund, and 
                          for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            October 17, 2019

  Ms. Houlahan (for herself, Mr. Engel, Mrs. Lowey, Ms. Frankel, Ms. 
 Speier, Ms. DeGette, Ms. DeLauro, Ms. Lee of California, Mrs. Carolyn 
   B. Maloney of New York, Ms. Moore, Mr. Grijalva, Ms. Shalala, Mr. 
Quigley, Mr. Payne, Mr. Huffman, Ms. Wasserman Schultz, Ms. Norton, Mr. 
 McGovern, Mr. DeFazio, Mr. Espaillat, Mr. Pappas, Mrs. Lawrence, Mr. 
   Cicilline, Mr. Pallone, Mr. Casten of Illinois, Mr. Cleaver, Ms. 
Barragan, Mr. Blumenauer, Mr. Levin of Michigan, Mr. Cooper, Ms. Bass, 
Mr. Rush, Mr. Nadler, Mr. Costa, Mr. Cohen, Mr. Deutch, Mr. Tonko, Mr. 
Raskin, Ms. Wild, Ms. Dean, Ms. Judy Chu of California, Mr. Pocan, Ms. 
 Roybal-Allard, Mr. Carbajal, Ms. Haaland, Mr. Himes, Ms. Scanlon, Mr. 
   Smith of Washington, Ms. Sanchez, Mrs. Napolitano, Mr. Case, Mrs. 
   Trahan, Mr. Ryan, Mr. Evans, Mr. Kennedy, Mr. Welch, Ms. Hill of 
  California, Mr. Bera, Mr. Price of North Carolina, Mr. Ted Lieu of 
 California, Ms. Meng, Mr. Sherman, Ms. Blunt Rochester, Ms. Kuster of 
 New Hampshire, Ms. Matsui, Mr. Neguse, Mr. Kind, Mr. Kilmer, Mr. Sean 
Patrick Maloney of New York, Mrs. Dingell, Ms. Schakowsky, Mr. Higgins 
  of New York, Mrs. Davis of California, Mr. Crow, Mr. Connolly, Ms. 
 Pingree, Miss Rice of New York, Ms. McCollum, Mr. Sires, Ms. Escobar, 
Mrs. Lee of Nevada, Mr. David Scott of Georgia, Ms. Kelly of Illinois, 
    Mr. Allred, Mr. Vargas, Ms. Titus, Mr. Cardenas, Mr. Johnson of 
Georgia, Ms. Schrier, Ms. Johnson of Texas, Mr. Cisneros, Mr. Soto, Ms. 
Brownley of California, Mr. Castro of Texas, Ms. Velazquez, Mr. Veasey, 
 Mr. Meeks, Mr. Trone, Mr. Gallego, Ms. Sherrill, Mr. Keating, and Mr. 
Larsen of Washington) introduced the following bill; which was referred 
                  to the Committee on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To authorize contributions to the United Nations Population Fund, and 
                          for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Support UNFPA Funding Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), is the 
        United Nations Reproductive Health Agency.
            (2) UNFPA was founded with the leadership of the United 
        States 50 years ago and works in more than 150 countries to end 
        preventable maternal deaths, the unmet need for contraception, 
        and gender-based violence and other harmful practices, 
        including female genital mutilation and child marriage.
            (3) UNFPA also ensures access to health care and essential 
        supplies for women and families impacted by emergencies.
            (4) All UNFPA programming is guided by principles adopted 
        by 179 governments, including the United States, at the 1994 
        International Conference for Population and Development. The 
        principles include that ``reproductive health care programs 
        should provide the widest range of services without any form of 
        coercion. All couples and individuals have the basic right to 
        decide freely and responsibly the number and spacing of their 
        children and to have the information, education and means to do 
        so.''
            (5) UNFPA is currently working to address the needs of:
                    (A) The 810 women and adolescent girls who die each 
                day from preventable causes related to pregnancy and 
                childbirth, 99 percent of which deaths occur in 
                developing countries and more than half of which occur 
                in fragile and humanitarian settings.
                    (B) More than 214,000,000 women of reproductive age 
                in developing regions who want to avoid pregnancy and 
                are not using a modern contraceptive method.
                    (C) The estimated 1 in 3 women who experience 
                gender-based violence.
                    (D) The estimated 200,000,000 women who have 
                survived some form of female genital mutilation.
                    (E) The estimated 15,000,000 girls who are forcibly 
                married before the age of 18 each year.
            (6) Prior to withholding contributions in 2017, the United 
        States was the third-largest overall donor to UNFPA, and its 
        second-largest donor for humanitarian response.
            (7) UNFPA, which works in three times as many countries as 
        the United States Agency for International Development, extends 
        the impact of United States foreign assistance by reaching 
        people in politically unstable regions. UNFPA also plays a 
        pivotal role in meeting protection and health care needs in 
        countries experiencing humanitarian emergencies like Syria, 
        Yemen, and Iraq.
            (8) Voluntary family planning is central to gender equality 
        and women's empowerment, and it is a key factor in reducing 
        poverty.
            (9) The United States has conflated UNFPA's presence in 
        China with supporting China's coercive birth limitation 
        policies. However, in June 2015, the U.S. State Department 
        visited UNFPA's China Country Program to design and approve it 
        as a member of UNFPA's Executive Board, noting that ``[d]uring 
        its recent visit, the U.S. delegation observed the positive 
        impact of UNFPA's rights-based programming in China. We commend 
        the Fund's adherence to demonstrating the advantages of a 
        voluntary approach to family planning.'' The Program in China 
        has not changed since it was approved by the United States in 
        2015.
            (10) On July 8, 2019, the Department of State made a 
        determination to eliminate all contributions to UNFPA for the 
        third consecutive year based on its interpretation of the Kemp-
        Kasten Amendment (first enacted in Public Law 99-88; 99 Stat. 
        323).

SEC. 3. STATEMENT OF POLICY.

    It is the policy of the United States as follows:
            (1) Improving the status of women around the world is a 
        critical component of the United States foreign policy and 
        development strategies.
            (2) The right of every person to determine freely whether, 
        when, and with whom to have children, and to attain the highest 
        standard of sexual and reproductive health, is a basic human 
        right.
            (3) Access to voluntary contraception and reproductive 
        health care is necessary to improving the status of women and 
        ensuring this basic human right.
            (4) UNFPA is a key partner in improving the status of women 
        and expanding access to voluntary family planning and 
        reproductive health care services throughout the world.
            (5) UNFPA helps ensure that family planning and 
        reproductive health programs are voluntary and centered on 
        protecting human rights.
            (6) Financial support for UNFPA is a crucial part of the 
        United States commitment to global health, development, and 
        human rights, and the Government of the United States is 
        committed to providing core and humanitarian funding to UNFPA.

SEC. 4. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    There is authorized to be appropriated an annual contribution for 
each of the five fiscal years beginning after the date of the enactment 
of this Act to support the core functions and programs of the United 
Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), which may include the following:
            (1) Ending preventable maternal deaths.
            (2) Ending the unmet need for contraceptives and promoting 
        a human-rights-based approach to family planning.
            (3) Ending gender-based violence.
            (4) Ending other harmful practices, such as child marriage 
        and female genital mutilation.
            (5) Supporting United States national security and 
        humanitarian efforts by operating in areas where medical 
        infrastructure or services have been destroyed or limited by 
        natural disasters, armed conflict, or other humanitarian 
        emergencies.
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