Quick Hit: The outcome of cutting funds for international family planning

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As if the domestic attacks on reproductive freedom in the U.S. wasn’t enough, you might or might not know about bill H.R. 1, that would cut $200 million in funding for U.S. international family planning assistance. Guttmacher gives us the goods on what the end result would be from just half of the cuts from this proposal. The numbers say it all — for every $100 million cut in funding, there would be:

• 5,000 more maternal deaths;
• six million fewer women and couples receiving contraceptive services and supplies;
• 1.9 million more unintended pregnancies;
• 800,000 more abortions (of which 600,000 would be unsafe);
• 600,000 more years of healthy life (DALYs) lost; and
• 23,000 more children losing their mothers.

So double that to get an idea of the impact if this bill is passed. The worst thing is that cutting this funding would barely make a dent in the U.S. budget deficit, according to Susan Cohen, Guttmacher’s director of government affairs. So taking away essential and (in some cases) life-saving health care for millions of women while doing barely anything to change the deficit? Great idea, guys. Really, keep up the good work — well, if “good” means not giving a shit about women’s lives.

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