Tell Congress to Invest in Mothers and Families

Feel free to add your own words to this letter.

Family planning is critical for the health and well-being of women and children around the world. By empowering women and men to make healthy decisions about the timing and spacing of their children, family planning ensures better health outcomes not only for individual families, but for entire communities. Unfortunately, more than 200 million worldwide would like to prevent pregnancy but have no access to safe, modern contraceptive services.

The United Methodist Church has a history of support for family planning services. Social Principle 162 states: "People have the duty to consider the impact on the total world community of their decisions regarding childbearing and should have access to information and appropriate means to limit their fertility." It goes on to say: "We affirm the right of men and women to have access to comprehensive reproductive health/family planning information and services which will serve as a means to prevent unplanned pregnancies, reduce abortions and prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS."

Investing in family planning is critical to ensuring the basic health and well-being of all persons. As United Methodists, we believe that health is a basic human right and a responsibility. Please write a letter to your member of Congress in support of increased U.S. funding for international family planning, so that we may ensure that all families of the world not only survive but thrive.