How Trump's Attacks on The UN Population Fund Hurt Women Around the World

And how to fight back

Photo by Dragos Gontariu on Unsplash

One of the unsung miracles of the last century is modern family planning. Study after study has demonstrated that when women are able to plan their pregnancies, their health and welfare are dramatically improved. This is particularly true in developing countries, where contraceptive use is associated with huge declines in maternal mortality—as much as 40%. Infant and child mortality rates also plummet with increased access to family planning, as do sexually transmitted diseases like HIV/AIDS.

The benefits extend to the economic realm as well. Being able to plan pregnancies enables women to access education and enter the workforce. This not only serves the women themselves, their families, and their children, but entire societies. A modeling study in Kenya, for example, determined that if the unmet need for family planning were reduced by two-thirds in the coming decades, the country would experience a 51% increase in per capita income by 2050. Simila…