Supporting Effective and Sustainable Family Planning Programs

About the Author: Anne C. Richard serves as Assistant Secretary of State forPopulation, Refugees, and Migration.

Today, leaders from around the world are meeting in London at the Family Planning Summit to express support for a fundamental component of reproductive rights – the right of every woman to decide freely and responsibly whether, when, and how many children she will have. This is a right most women in the United States have had the luxury of taking for granted in recent generations, unlike women in developing countries where 99 percent of all maternal deaths occur. The statistics are staggering – every two minutes a woman dies of pregnancy-related complications. For many, limited access to voluntary, safe, and effective modern contraception, information, and services becomes a matter of life and death.

More than 200 million women and girls in developing countries who want to use family planning to delay or avoid becoming pregnant do not have access to modern contraception.… more »

(Source: blogs.state.gov)