 July/August 2004
American Friends Service Committee Peacework Magazine Sara Burke, Managing Editor Sam Diener, Editor Pat Farren, Founding Editor 2161 Massachusetts Ave. Telephone number: Fax number:
pwork@igc.org Peacework has been published monthly since 1972, intended to serve as a source of dependable information to those who strive for peace and justice and are committed to furthering the nonviolent social change necessary to achieve them. Rooted in Quaker values and informed by AFSC experience and initiatives, Peacework offers a forum for organizers, fostering coalition-building and teaching the methods and strategies that work in the global and local community. Peacework seeks to serve as an incubator for social transformation, introducing a younger generation to a deeper analysis of problems and issues, reminding and re-inspiring long-term activists, encouraging the generations to listen to each other, and creating space for the voices of the disenfranchised. Views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily of the AFSC. |
Campaign Counters Deadly US Reproductive Health Policy The UNFPA (the United Nations Population Fund), the world's largest international source of funding for population and reproductive heath programs, saves thousands of lives each year. But in 2002, the Bush Administration bowed to the pressures of domestic politics, eliminating the $34 million in US funding. It is estimated that $34 million would have prevented two million unwanted pregnancies, and 800,000 induced abortions. It also would have prevented 4,700 maternal deaths and 77,000 infant deaths. To mitigate the impact of the elimination of US money for these life saving reproductive health services, two women sparked a spontaneous grassroots movement. Lois Abraham, a lawyer from New Mexico, and Jane Roberts, a French teacher in California, began their campaign by contacting their friends and family and urging them to donate $1 with the philosophy that everyone giving a little makes a huge difference. When enthusiasm for their initiative blossomed, they founded 34 Million Friends of UNFPA. With over 100,000 contributors and over $1.95 million raised so far, it is clear that grassroots support for saving the lives of women and children, despite indifference on the part of too many politicians, is evident. The first million dollars the campaign raised has already saved lives in East Timor, Mongolia, Rwanda, and Eritrea. The money has also been used to save thousands of women from obstetric fistula, the most devastating of all pregnancy-related disabilities. The goal remains to get 34 million people to donate at least 1 dollar to restore the programs of the UNFPA.
To help out, send an e-mail or note to
friends, civic organizations, and others to let them know about
the campaign, contact politicians to express your outrage that
current US policy sentences so many to suffer and die needlessly,
and send at least a dollar to the 34 Million Friends of UNFPA,
3800 Arapahoe Ave., Suite 210, Boulder, CO 80303. Donations can
also be made online at www.unfpa.org/support/friends/34million.htm.
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