[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 1299 Introduced in House (IH)]
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118th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. RES. 1299
Reaffirming the goals and ideals of the 1994 International Conference
on Population and Development Programme of Action in Cairo, Egypt,
including comprehensive sexual and reproductive health and rights.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
June 13, 2024
Ms. Lee of California (for herself, Ms. Lois Frankel of Florida, and
Ms. Meng) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the
Committee on Foreign Affairs
_______________________________________________________________________
RESOLUTION
Reaffirming the goals and ideals of the 1994 International Conference
on Population and Development Programme of Action in Cairo, Egypt,
including comprehensive sexual and reproductive health and rights.
Whereas the United States played a central role in the creation of the United
Nations in 1945 following World War II to promote international
cooperation;
Whereas the United States encouraged the establishment of the United Nations
Population Fund (in this resolution referred to as ``UNFPA'') in 1969
and continues to serve on the Executive Board of the UNFPA;
Whereas the International Conference on Population and Development (in this
resolution referred to as ``ICPD''), which was attended by officials
from the Executive Office of the President, Congress, and United States
civil society and private sector organizations, was convened by the
UNFPA and the Population Division of the United Nations Department for
Economic and Social Information and Policy Analysis in Cairo from
September 5 to September 13, 1994, for the purpose of addressing
critical issues regarding population, development, and human rights;
Whereas the resulting ICPD Programme of Action, to which the United States is a
signatory, asserts that the focus of development policy must be the
human rights and dignity of individuals and the improvement of
individual lives, measured by progress in addressing inequalities;
Whereas civil society played an indispensable role in shaping and executing the
ICPD Programme of Action and continues to do so today;
Whereas, since the adoption of the ICPD Programme of Action in 1994, significant
progress has been made towards universal access to sexual and
reproductive health and rights, including--
(1) a global increase in voluntary access to modern contraception by 25
percent;
(2) a decline in the number of deaths due to unsafe abortion from
69,000 in 1990 to 22,800 in 2014, due to liberalization of abortion laws
and increased access to safe, and effective methods of abortion across the
globe;
(3) a decrease in maternal deaths by 34 percent globally; and
(4) enhanced access to medical advances such as the development of
antiretroviral therapies, which 29,800,000 people living with HIV accessed
in 2022, contributing to significant decreases in HIV acquisition and
transmission;
Whereas gaps and challenges in achieving the goals of the ICPD Programme of
Action remain as progress has been unequal and fragmented and new
challenges have emerged, such as--
(1) 218,000,000 women worldwide who still have unmet contraceptive
needs;
(2) 287,000 women who still die annually from complications during
pregnancy and childbirth globally, nearly all of which are preventable and
1 out of 4 of which could be prevented by access to contraception. The
reduction in maternal mortality has stalled in 133 countries and there was
an increase in maternal mortality in 17 countries from 2016-2020;
(3) up to 11 percent of maternal deaths that can be attributed to
unsafe abortion;
(4) more than 1,000,000 STIs that are--
G (A) acquired worldwide every day because access to education about
STIs and STI testing is not universally available due to a lack of trained
personnel, comprehensive sexual education, laboratory capacity, and
medicines;
G (B) too often untreated, as an estimated 133,000,000 women of
reproductive age in low-middle income countries need but do not receive
treatment for 1 of the 4 major curable STIs, chlamydia, gonorrhea,
syphilis, or trichomoniasis; and
G (C) exacerbated by the separation of STI services from other
services, such as primary health care or family planning;
(5) People living with HIV or at risk of HIV transmission, including
the--
G (A) 1,700,000 people who became newly infected with HIV in 2022,
54 percent of which are among key populations and their sexual partners
where the risk of acquiring HIV is 22 times higher among men who have sex
with men, 22 times higher among people who inject drugs, 21 times higher
for sex workers, and 12 times higher for transgender people; and
G (B) adolescent girls and young women (ages 15-24) who are at a
higher risk of becoming infected with HIV and who account for 4 out of 5
new infections among adolescents (aged 15-19) in sub- Saharan Africa;
(6) 35 percent of women worldwide who have experienced physical or
sexual intimate partner violence or sexual violence, or sexual violence by
a non-partner at some point in their lives, a vulnerability that may
increase as a result of characteristics such as sexual orientation,
disability status, HIV status, and pregnancy, or contextual factors, such
as humanitarian crises and conflict; and
(7) 48,000,000 women and girls of reproductive age who are in need of
humanitarian assistance;
Whereas the ICPD Programme of Action and other international human rights
standards recognize that access to evidence-based, comprehensive sexual
and reproductive health care, including abortion, is an essential human
right, and that ending gender-based violence and the prevention and
treatment of HIV are key priorities to advancing sexual and reproductive
health and rights for all people, and attaining the ICPD Programme of
Action milestones and the Sustainable Development Goals;
Whereas the ICPD Programme of Action called for the right of all people to have
a satisfying and safe sex life and that they have the capability to
reproduce and the freedom to decide if, when, and how often to do so;
Whereas the ICPD Programme of Action called for the right of all people to be
informed and to have access to safe, effective, affordable and
acceptable methods of family planning of their choice, free of coercion,
violence, misinformation, and discrimination;
Whereas the ICPD called on governments to commit themselves at the highest
political level to achieving the goals and objectives of the Programme
of Action and to take a leading role in coordinating the implementation,
monitoring, and evaluation of follow-up actions;
Whereas the General Assembly of the United Nations endorsed the ICPD Programme
of Action in 1995, affirmed that governments should commit themselves to
the goals and objectives of the Programme of Action, and called upon all
governments to give the widest possible dissemination of the Programme
of Action and seek public support for the goals, objectives, and actions
of the Programme of Action;
Whereas 400 youth delegates from 60 countries, including the United States, met
for the ICPD30 Global Youth Dialogue in Cotonou, Benin on April 4-5,
2024, to reaffirm the pivotal and active role young people in every
corner of the world have played in promoting, protecting and delivering
the ICPD Programme of Action and through the resulting Cotonou Youth
Action Agenda, called on all United Nations Member States, duty bearers,
and stakeholders to implement, resource and institutionalize global
commitments which provide youth-centered, accessible, safe, gender-
responsive, quality sexual and reproductive health services and supplies
within universal health coverage programmes, including menstrual health
management, the full range of modern contraceptives, comprehensive
abortion care services, HIV services, and self-managed care;
Whereas Members of Parliament from all regions of the world, with presence from
the House of Representatives, met in Oslo, Norway, on April 10-12, 2024,
for the eighth International Parliamentarians' Conference on the
Implementation (in this resolution referred to as ``IPCI'') of the
International Conference on Population and Development and through the
resulting Oslo Statement of Commitment, members expressed deep concern
about the global backlash against the sexual and reproductive health and
rights agenda that has been observed in multiple countries, including
the lack of agency for women and girls, which deepens social
inequalities and undermines human rights, democracy, gender equality,
and the collective efforts to build more inclusive and resilient
societies;
Whereas in its 2024 State of the World Population Report, UNFPA reviewed
progress in achieving the ICPD Programme of Action, indicating that
significant progress has been made, but entrenched inequalities deprive
millions from fundamental sexual and reproductive health and rights;
Whereas the inability of the world to reach the most marginalized is largely due
to unwillingness to confront the legacies of gender inequality, racial
discrimination, and misinformation that underlie health systems;
Whereas the United States government, in its Statement at UN Commission on
Population and Development's 57th Annual Session on April 30, 2024,
affirmed that reproductive rights are central to an inclusive, thriving
society, that seeking to achieve these rights unequivocally transforms
the lives of women and girls, in all of their diversity, around the
world, for the better; and
Whereas the Blueprint for Sexual and Reproductive Health, Rights and Justice
calls on the United States government to mark the 30th anniversary of
ICPD with a high level event that recommits the United States government
to the ICPD Program of Action and delivers sexual and reproductive
health and rights for all through both rhetoric and action on programs,
policy, and funding: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
(1) commends the notable progress made in achieving the
goals set in 1994 at the ICPD and the follow up and outcomes of
subsequent review conferences;
(2) recommits to the achievement of the goals;
(3) champions the right to bodily autonomy and self-
determination for all;
(4) recognizes that sexual and reproductive health and
rights, including safe abortion, are human rights, and that
sexual and reproductive health and rights are a precondition
for the empowerment of women, gender equality, and the well-
being and prosperity of all people;
(5) commits to advocating for and providing comprehensive
and factual information and a full range of sexual and
reproductive health care services which are accessible,
affordable, acceptable, of good quality and convenient to all
users;
(6) acknowledges that without a clear commitment to a human
rights-based approach to development, reproductive health, and
gender equality, it will not be possible to meet the goals of
either the ICPD or the Sustainable Development Goals;
(7) acknowledges and condemns the recent backsliding that--
(A) has occurred domestically and the egregious
impact it has had globally, particularly regarding
abortion access and the rights of the LGBTQIA+
community; and
(B) is contrary to evidence-based health practices
and established human rights norms and could set back
the progress made on reducing unsafe abortions,
reducing maternal mortality, and reducing stigma
against treatment for HIV/AIDS;
(8) accepts the responsibility of the United States, as the
largest funder of global health, to uphold the goals of ICPD
and set a global example through United States funding and
policies, which affirmatively advance Federal development
commitments and the realization of human rights;
(9) supports the urgent need to scale up funding for
bilateral international family planning and reproductive health
programs and the United States contribution to UNFPA, which
have been flat funded for 14 years, and to permanently end
harmful policies like the global gag rule and Helms Amendment,
which undermine global access to comprehensive health care
information and services and the ability to achieve the vision
laid out in the ICPD Programme of Action;
(10) opposes and condemns reproductive coercion in all
forms, consistent with the 1994 ICPD Programme of Action,
including--
(A) the use of incentives or disincentives to lower
or raise fertility;
(B) the use of incentives or targets for uptake of
specific contraceptive methods;
(C) withholding of information on reproductive
health options; and
(D) forced abortion, forced sterilization, and
forced pregnancy; and
(11) calls on the administration to fully implement the
National Strategy on Gender Equity and Equality, including the
strategic priority to ``Protect, Improve, and Expand Access to
Health Care, including Sexual and Reproductive Health Care''.
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