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March 8, 2007

Remarks of Jim Winkler, General Secretary of the General Board of Church and Society of the United Methodist Church

Thank you for including us in this panel presentation and thanks to Representatives Betty McCollum, Jim Ramstad, James Oberstar, Donald Payne and Chris Shays for their foresight and wisdom in the development of the Focus on Family Health Worldwide Act.

The United Methodist Church is a global church – one that historically has sided with the oppressed and marginalized. United Methodists are found in the US, parts of Europe and Africa and the Philippines, and we now number about 11 million. John Wesley, our founder, had a profound commitment to ministry with those who struggled and also had a profound interest in the health and well-being of all God’s children.

Our Social Principles, which are our denomination’s guiding statements on social and political issues, unequivocally support the right for men and women worldwide to have the ability to choose when, or if, to have children. This right is viewed as an important component of overall health care provision. Access to family planning and health services prevents maternal and child deaths, prevents the spread of disease, reduces abortions and enhances the delivery of healthy babies. We believe it makes sense.

We’re also concerned about the planet and the use of resources. Alex Marshall, editor of Footprints and Milestones: Population and Environmental Change; The State of the World Population report, described a bleak picture of the future if humans do not change their behavior soon: “By 2050, 4.2 billion people will be living in countries that cannot meet the daily requirement...of water per person to meet basic needs.” Even now, the report says, “unclean water and associated poor sanitation kill over 12 million people each year.” Policies addressing access to family planning methods and health care, poverty eradication, human rights and women’s empowerment are all needed to meet the needs of humanity and protect the environment.

We know there is a significant unmet need for women and girls around the world for contraception. According to the World Health Organization, despite the increase in contraceptive prevalence, some 137 million women still have an unmet need for contraception. The highest proportion, several times the level of current use, is in sub-Saharan Africa where 46% of women at risk of unintended pregnancy are using no method.

Every year nearly 80 million unintended pregnancies occur worldwide. More than half of these pregnancies end in abortion. An estimated 150 million women in developing countries say they would prefer to plan their families but are not using contraception. Each year, more than 500,000 women worldwide die from pregnancy or childbirth-related causes, almost all of them in the developing world. Add the prevalence of HIV & AIDS on top, and you have a disaster.

Regrettably, in spite of the horrid statistics, President Bush has proposed a dramatic 25% reduction in funding for international family planning and reproductive health programs in his 2008 budget request despite the fact that they are one of the most successful components of the U.S. foreign assistance program. This is regrettable.

How do we put a human face on this dilemma? Let me share briefly about a program in the DRC which points to the importance of family planning and education. The empowerment of girls and women is the focus of Rev. Jose Kabanga, through his volunteer work on AIDS prevention at the Bomoto Center in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Kabanga reported that girls were having sex with professors to obtain a higher grade and were contracting AIDS. Kabanga has begun an education program for professors on AIDS prevention and is also working with teens. Teens are provided comprehensive sex education which includes discussions about contraception. Seventy-five percent of young people are sexually active in the DRC according to Kabanga. The center is also training young people to be peer counselors with neighborhood prostitutes who are contracting AIDS through their clients. Through this program, prostitutes are coming to the center for additional education and opportunities for less-risky jobs. This is one small example of one program at work in The United Methodist Church.

Our board is lending its support to HR 1225, Focus on Family Health Worldwide Act of 2007 which will provide resources for the expansion of family planning services and health personnel training around the world. We know through our work on HIV & AIDS, that medical personnel are migrating out of developing nations at a significant rate. More training with adequate compensation is needed. And, the need for coordination between AIDS programs and family planning initiatives is crucial. We are pleased to see language in this bill that reflects that need. This act will not only save lives, but will enhance the overall health of men, women and children.

We affirm the sacred dimensions of personhood, and believe all possible efforts should be made by parents and the community to ensure that each child enters the world with a healthy body and is born into an environment conducive to the realization of his or her full potential. According to one of our resolutions “churches and society should make information and materials available so all can exercise responsible choice in the area of conception controls. We support the free flow of information about reputable, efficient, and safe nonprescription contraceptive techniques through educational programs and through periodicals, radio, television, and other advertising media. We support adequate public funding and increased participation in family planning services by public and private agencies, including church-related institutions, with the goal of making such services accessible to all, regardless of economic status or geographic location.” Additionally, we call on governments and private organizations to place a higher priority on research aimed at developing a range of safe, inexpensive contraceptives that can be used in a variety of societies and medical situations. Promote greater understanding of attitudes, motivations, and social and economic factors affecting childbearing.

In closing, “We are living in an age of possibility in which we are called under God to serve the future with hope and confidence. Christians have no alternative to involvement in seeking solutions for the great and complex set of problems facing the world today. These issues are closely interrelated: hunger, poverty, disease, lack of potable water, denial of human rights, economic and environmental exploitation, over-consumption, technologies that are inadequate or inappropriate, rapid depletion of resources, and continuing growth of population. None can be addressed in isolation.”

Thank you.