Murphy, Blumenthal, Colleagues Urge President Obama to Continue Funding United Nations Population Fund

Press Release

Today, U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) and U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), as well as nine of their Senate colleagues, sent a letter urging President Obama to continue funding the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). UNFPA is the largest provider of family planning and reproductive health services, providing life-saving health care for men, women and children, in more than 150 countries that are home to nearly 80 percent of the world's population.

The Senators wrote, "U.S. funding for UNFPA supports a range of global activities including the provision of voluntary family planning information, education and services, training and deployment of skilled birth attendance and midwives, and work to help end the harmful practices of female mutilation and child marriage."

The agency plays a vital role in addressing the world's most urgent humanitarian crises. It was the lead agency in charge of contact tracing in during last year's Ebola outbreak in West Africa and provided protective equipment like gloves, face masks, aprons and disinfectant to workers fighting Ebola.

UNFPA also assists refugees in Syria and neighboring countries -- offering safe havens for women and girls to escape violence, providing activities to help make young people less susceptible to recruitment by extremists groups such as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), and delivering "dignity kits" filled with basic health and hygiene products like soap, headscarves and undergarments.

The Senators continued, "U.S. support for UNFPA is cost-effective, saves lives and supports our broader diplomatic, developmental and national security priorities."

The letter was also signed by U.S. Senators Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Chris Coons (D-Del.), Richard Durbin (D-Ill.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and Bernard Sanders (I-Vt.).

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