Rep. Grace Meng questions Sen. Marco Rubio on canceling international family planning programs that save lives and prevent unsafe abortions, as Rubio confirms there is no plan to allocate the $575M Congress mandated.
Rep. Grace Meng cites Guttmacher research on impact of US support for family planning programs
Transcript:
Meng: With international family planning and reproductive health programs—you have also canceled all international— all of these programs— these programs are life-saving. In 2024 alone, they were estimated to save the lives of 34,000 women and girls, prevent over 5 million unsafe abortions and serve over 47 million women and couples around the world with modern contraceptive care. You are statutorily required to spend $575 million in bilateral international family planning awards as Congress provided in 2024. What is the plan?
Rubio: There is no plan. As I said, on those programs, with regards to that, there's no plan to spend that money. We're not going to be in that business globally. I mean—we don't— we're not going to do it.