[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3938 Introduced in House (IH)]
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117th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 3938
To authorize contributions to the United Nations Population Fund, and
for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
June 16, 2021
Ms. Houlahan (for herself, Mr. Meeks, Ms. Lee of California, Ms.
Speier, Ms. DeGette, Ms. Lois Frankel of Florida, Mrs. Carolyn B.
Maloney of New York, Mr. Deutch, Mr. Castro of Texas, Ms. Jacobs of
California, Ms. Barragan, Mr. Auchincloss, Mr. Bera, Mr. Connolly, Mr.
Garcia of Illinois, Mr. Grijalva, Mr. McGovern, Mr. Keating, Mr.
Vargas, Mr. Carson, Mr. Cohen, Ms. Manning, Ms. Meng, Mr. Casten, Ms.
Kelly of Illinois, Mr. Smith of Washington, Mr. Phillips, Ms.
Velazquez, Mr. Sherman, Ms. Schakowsky, Ms. Moore of Wisconsin, Mr.
Ruppersberger, Ms. Norton, Mr. Evans, Mr. Tonko, Ms. McCollum, Mr.
Levin of Michigan, Ms. Titus, Ms. Pressley, Mr. Espaillat, Ms. Matsui,
Mr. Raskin, Mr. Price of North Carolina, Ms. Strickland, Ms. Sanchez,
Ms. Dean, Ms. Sewell, Ms. Brownley, Mr. Quigley, Mr. Johnson of
Georgia, Mr. Neguse, Ms. Roybal-Allard, Mr. Gallego, Ms. Chu, Mr.
Pocan, Mr. Sarbanes, Ms. Ross, Mr. Cicilline, Mr. Nadler, Mr. Ryan,
Miss Rice of New York, Ms. Eshoo, Mr. Kilmer, Mr. Welch, Mr. Schneider,
Mr. Case, Mr. Krishnamoorthi, Ms. Wasserman Schultz, Ms. Bass, Mr.
Himes, Mrs. Lawrence, Ms. DelBene, Mr. Cooper, Mr. Allred, Mrs.
Kirkpatrick, Ms. Lofgren, Mr. Costa, Mr. Pappas, Ms. Schrier, Ms. Wild,
Ms. Sherrill, Mr. Lawson of Florida, Mr. Yarmuth, Mr. Levin of
California, Ms. Blunt Rochester, Ms. Bourdeaux, Mr. Cardenas, Mr.
Lowenthal, Mr. DeFazio, Ms. Wexton, Mr. Huffman, Mr. Trone, Ms. Omar,
Mr. Blumenauer, Mr. Sires, Mr. Danny K. Davis of Illinois, Mrs. Hayes,
Mr. Malinowski, Mr. Kildee, Mr. Higgins of New York, Ms. Scanlon, Ms.
Clark of Massachusetts, Ms. Bonamici, Ms. Pingree, Mr. Kahele, Mrs.
Dingell, Ms. Adams, Mr. Sean Patrick Maloney of New York, Mr. Lieu, Mr.
Crow, Mr. Aguilar, Mr. Payne, Mr. Veasey, Mr. David Scott of Georgia,
Mr. Carbajal, Ms. Jackson Lee, Mr. Lamb, Mr. Pallone, Ms. Kuster, Mrs.
Demings, Mr. Takano, Mrs. Torres of California, Ms. Johnson of Texas,
Ms. Garcia of Texas, Mr. Kind, Mr. Soto, and Ms. Jayapal) 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 the
following:
(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) The more than 218,000,000 women of reproductive
age in low- and middle-income countries 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) In recent years, the United States has been 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) UNFPA is responding to the needs of women and girls
affected by the COVID-19 outbreak by focusing on countries that
have weak public health and social support systems to limit
potential increases in unmet need for family planning, gender
based violence, female genital mutilation, and child marriage.
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, development, 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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