Congress Avoids Large Cuts in International Family Planning Assistance, but Trims UNFPA Funding.

In late December Congress approved an omnibus appropriations bill that froze bilateral international family planning assistance for FY2012 at last year’s level of $575 million, but cut funding for the United Nations Population Fund from $40 million to $35 million. While the cut in funding for UNFPA is a setback, House opponents of family planning failed in their efforts to slash the funding levels by 25 percent. The amount approved by Congress still fell far short of the $1 billion funding level proposed by family planning advocates. Robert Walker, the President of the Population Institute, said, “There is still a large unmet need for family planning in the world. With the largest generation ever of young people entering their prime reproductive years, the U.S. should be boosting its support for both UNFPA and country-to-country assistance.”

http://www.populationinstitute.org/newsroom/press/view/45/