Pro-Choice Caucus Leaders Urge Biden Administration to Include Strong Funding for Reproductive Health in FY 2023 Budget Request

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the leadership of the Pro-Choice Caucus sent a letter to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), requesting support for strong funding levels for domestic and international family planning and reproductive health programs in the President’s Fiscal Year (FY) 2023 budget request. The Members urged OMB to submit a budget with increased investment in critical programs, including Title X family planning and international family planning/reproductive health, and they asked the Bien Administration to submit a budget free from all policy riders that limit sexual and reproductive health and rights in the U.S. and around the world, including coverage of and access to abortion.

“We appreciate the administration’s clear and early commitment to sexual and reproductive health and rights in the U.S. and around the world, including efforts to repeal certain long-standing abortion coverage restrictions, such as the Hyde Amendment,” the lawmakers wrote. “Proposing significant increased investments in these critical programs in the next fiscal year will be key to delivering on that commitment, especially now that resources can flow to all qualified providers thanks to the administration’s work to rescind both the domestic and global gag rules.”

Read the full text of the letter below:

January 24, 2022

Acting Director Shalanda Young

Office of Management and Budget

Executive Office of the President

725 17th Street, NW

Washington, DC 20503

Dear Acting Director Young,

As the Leadership of the Congressional Pro-Choice Caucus, we write to request your support for strong funding levels for domestic and international family planning and reproductive health programs in the President’s Fiscal Year (FY) 2023 budget request. We appreciate the administration’s clear and early commitment to sexual and reproductive health and rights in the U.S. and around the world, including efforts to repeal certain long-standing abortion coverage restrictions, such as the Hyde Amendment. Proposing significant increased investments in these critical programs in the next fiscal year will be key to delivering on that commitment, especially now that resources can flow to all qualified providers thanks to the administration’s work to rescind both the domestic and global gag rules.

Title X Family Planning Program

We respectfully request that you propose $512 million in funding for the Title X domestic family planning program as a critical component of a broader Biden-Harris administration strategy to promote health equity, racial and economic justice, and sexual and reproductive health, rights, and justice. In FY 2023, the Title X program will need significant resources to help rebuild from the damage of the Trump-Pence domestic gag rule and address the unmet need of the program that has been further exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. This requested level is based on the latest federal research on Title X – in 2016, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Department of Health and Human Services Office of Population Affairs conducted a evidence-based study that estimated the program would require annual appropriations of $737 million just to serve women in need of Title X-funded services. An increase to $512 million brings us halfway to that goal (based on FY 2021 funding of $286.5 million) and is in line with the Senate’s proposed FY 2022 appropriation of $500 million.

International Family Planning and Reproductive Health

We also respectfully request that you continue to build upon the investments made by the House of Representatives in our FY 2022 State and Foreign Operations bill and include robust funding levels for both bilateral family planning and reproductive health programs and for the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). For FY 2022, the House approved a historic investment of $760 million for bilateral family planning and $70 million for UNPFA. Further increases would send a strong signal to the world and significantly expand access to services that help women, girls and families survive and thrive. It would also be an important step toward delivering the $1.74 billion U.S. share to meet the needs of an estimated 218 million women in low- and middle-income countries who want to prevent or delay pregnancy, but face significant barriers to using modern contraceptive methods. Our investments in these programs save lives, support our broader global health, development, and foreign policy priorities, and are ultimately cost- effective.

Bilateral Family Planning

The United States Agency for International Development's (USAID) leadership is critical to ensure countries meet the family planning and reproductive health needs of their people. Our nation's investments in international family planning have had a significant sustained impact in recent years. The funding appropriated for the U.S. assistance for international family planning and reproductive health programs and UNFPA in FY 2021 made it possible for:

• 27.2 million women and couples to receive contraceptive services;
• 12 million unintended pregnancies to be averted;
• 4 million unsafe abortions to be averted; and
• 19,000 maternal deaths to be averted.

These investments not only save and improve lives but are also highly cost-effective. Family planning and reproductive health programs contribute to our shared global health, development and foreign policy goals, including prioritizing women and girls, advancing gender equality, reducing infant and maternal mortality, preventing mother-to-child transmission of HIV, and combating gender-based violence. As such, we recommend robust funding, that builds on the FY 2022 House-passed levels, for international family planning and reproductive health programs.

Prioritizing UNFPA Funding

After four years of having its U.S. funding contribution withheld and reprogrammed due to a politically motivated decision by the previous administration, we are grateful for the Biden administration’s swift action to restore funding to the UNFPA. UNFPA plays a critical role in helping the U.S. achieve its global health and gender equality goals as the largest multilateral provider of family planning and reproductive health services, working in more than 155 countries, often where USAID does not operate family planning or reproductive health programs. The agency also plays a critical role in combating maternal mortality and morbidity, ending the unmet need for voluntary family planning, and ending gender-based violence and harmful practices like child marriage and female genital mutilation. In humanitarian crises and conflict affected areas, such as Yemen and Afghanistan, UNFPA has taken a leading role in responding to reproductive and community health and protection needs. We recommend that the President demonstrate support for this work by providing UNFPA with a funding level no less than the House-passed FY 2022 level.

The global COVID-19 pandemic continues to strain health systems across the country and around the world which has disrupted access to sexual and reproductive health services and disproportionately burdened women and trans people, especially Black and brown women and those living in low and middle income countries. We must scale up investments in domestic and international family planning and reproductive health programs that have served communities for decades in order to not lose further momentum as we fight this pandemic and address persistent health equity challenges.

Eliminating Harmful Policy Riders that Limit Access to Sexual and Reproductive Health Care, Including Abortion

We also request the President’s FY 2023 budget request remove all policy riders that limit sexual and reproductive health and rights in the U.S. and around the world, including coverage of and access to abortion. A number of abortion coverage bans — including the Hyde Amendment — have a far-reaching impact on people enrolled in Medicaid and Medicare; federal employees and their dependents; Peace Corps Volunteers; Indigenous people; women in federal prisons and immigration detention centers; and residents of the District of Columbia. We are grateful that the President’s FY 2022 budget proposed to eliminate the Hyde Amendment and the ban on DC’s use of local funds for abortion coverage. We request that abortion coverage bans be eliminated from the FY 2023 budget in all instances, including the bans that affect persons incarcerated in federal prisons and federal employees.

We ask that the President also call for an end to the Weldon Amendment, which for years has been attached to Hyde and used to deny people abortion care and interfere with policies that expand abortion coverage and access. Opponents of abortion access, including the previous administration, have invoked the Weldon Amendment in attempts to block policies to expand abortion care and coverage by threatening policymakers with the loss of critical federal health dollars.

In FY 2023, we ask the President to express support for a permanent repeal of the global gag rule on non-governmental organizations that receive U.S. assistance, consistent with the language in the FY22 House-passed State and Foreign Operations Appropriations bill. We also ask for the budget request to include the elimination of global abortion restrictions including the Helms Amendment. Under the Helms Amendment, U.S. foreign assistance for abortion-related services remains restricted, denying people around the world the life-saving care that they want and need. Finally, we applaud the proposal in FY 2022 budget proposal to remove funding conditions applied to UNFPA. We hope the FY 2023 budget proposal will take further action to support UNFPA and propose updating the Kemp-Kasten Amendment to address all forms of reproductive coercion and delete the requirement for a presidential determination. We look forward to working with you to end these harmful policies.

We are committed to working with you to advance these key priorities and appreciate your consideration and your ongoing leadership.

 

Sincerely,

Rep. Diana DeGette Co-Chair, Pro-Choice Caucus

Rep. Judy Chu Member of Congress

Rep. Julia Brownley Member of Congress

Rep. Suzan DelBene Member of Congress

Rep. Ayanna Pressley Member of Congress

Rep. Marilyn Strickland Member of Congress

Rep. Barbara Lee Co-Chair, Pro-Choice Caucus

Rep. Jackie Speier Member of Congress

Rep. Katherine Clark Member of Congress

Rep. Ted Deutch Member of Congress

Rep. Jan Schakowsky Member of Congress

Rep. Norma Torres Member of Congress