Congress must protect international family planning funding

"Opponents of birth control don't just want to limit access in the U.S., they want to slash U.S. support for international family planning programs. It's a perennial debate, and it's about to start all over again," Chloe Cooney, director of global advocacy at Planned Parenthood Federation of America, writes in an RH Reality Check blog post. President Obama's FY 2013 budget "demonstrates the value the administration places on family planning," as "funding for international family planning programs is preserved," she writes, noting Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's recent testimony to Congress about the budget proposal, in which "she consistently reiterated the importance of development as a key pillar of our foreign policy and national security strategy" and "the administration's focus on women and girls as central to these goals." Cooney concludes, "The president's budget protects U.S. investments in family planning programs around the world. Now it's up to Congress to make sure those funds remain intact" (3/5).