{
  "id": "R46215",
  "type": "CRS Report",
  "typeId": "REPORTS",
  "number": "R46215",
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      "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
      "id": 616326,
      "date": "2020-02-06",
      "retrieved": "2020-02-07T23:03:10.072049",
      "title": "U.S. Bilateral International Family Planning and Reproductive Health Programs: Background and Selected Issues ",
      "summary": "U.S. international family planning activities stem from a provision of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (Section 104, P.L. 87-195; as amended), which authorized research on family planning issues, among many other things. In 1965, Congress authorized the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to create contraceptive distribution programs. Originally, international family planning programs focused on distributing contraceptives and related commodities. Over time, such programs evolved to also address reproductive health issues, such as female genital mutilation (FGM) and obstetric fistula prevention and care. The United States is the largest donor of international family planning and reproductive health (FP/RH) assistance, supporting programs in 40 countries and providing, in recent years, $575 million annually in bilateral aid for this purpose. USAID administers the majority of this funding, which Congress appropriates primarily through the Global Health Programs account in the annual State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs appropriation. \nPolicy debates about U.S. bilateral foreign assistance for FP/RH activities have focused primarily on whether recipient organizations could repurpose those funds to indirectly support abortion, despite legislation barring the use of U.S. funds for such purposes. Other aspects of FP/RH programs, particularly those related to curbing child marriage and gender-based violence, have generally received broad based support. \nThis report describes the background and history of U.S. bilateral international family planning and reproductive health programs, funding trends, and related policy debates, including\nthe effects of the Mexico City Policy/Protecting Life in Global Health Assistance restrictions and other abortion, and involuntary sterilization related restrictions on voluntary family planning and reproductive health services supported by U.S. bilateral foreign assistance; \nappropriate funding levels for international family planning and reproductive health programs; \nthe utility of more or less integration of family planning/reproductive health programs and maternal and child health funding and programs; and\npending legislation focused on international family planning assistance.\nThis report does not cover family planning assistance channeled through multilateral organizations, such as the U.N. Population Fund (UNFPA). It provides only limited discussion of legislative restrictions and executive branch policies related to international abortion, which are detailed in other CRS products. For information on legislative restrictions, U.S. domestic abortion laws, and U.S. global health assistance, including international family planning, see the following CRS products: \nCRS In Focus IF11013, Protecting Life in Global Health Assistance Policy, by Tiaji Salaam-Blyther and Sara M. Tharakan. \nCRS Report R41360, Abortion and Family Planning-Related Provisions in U.S. Foreign Assistance Law and Policy, by Luisa Blanchfield. \nCRS Report RL33467, Abortion: Judicial History and Legislative Response, by Jon O. Shimabukuro.\nCRS In Focus IF10131, U.S. Global Health Assistance: FY2017-FY2020 Request, by Tiaji Salaam-Blyther.",
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          "name": "Foreign Assistance"
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          "source": "IBCList",
          "id": 4787,
          "name": "State Department & International Organizations"
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  "topics": [
    "Foreign Affairs",
    "Health Policy"
  ]
}