Family Planning

On January 23, President Donald Trump reinstated the Mexico City Policy, which stipulates that in order to receive U.S. global health funding, foreign non-governmental organizations (NGOs) must certify that they will not perform or actively promote abortion as a method of family planning using funds from any source. A new explainer…

An overview of the Mexico City Policy, which, when last in effect, required foreign NGOs to certify that they would not “perform or actively promote abortion as a method of family planning” using funds from any source (including non-U.S. funds) as a condition for receiving most U.S. government global health assistance.

The Affordable Care Act’s contraceptive coverage provision made access to the full range of contraceptive methods available to millions of women with private insurance at no cost.  Despite broad public support, this provision has been challenged by religious employers, with two cases reaching the Supreme Court. It is unclear how…

This issue brief explains the Affordable Care Act’s current contraceptive coverage rule, the impact it has had on women, and the state of contraceptive coverage if the rule is eliminated or modified.

In the latest post in the Policy Insights series, Jen Kates, Josh Michaud, and Allison Valentine examine how rapid emergence of Zika virus in the Americas, and its association with a severe birth defect, impact women as some health officials are calling for women to avoid pregnancy even though they have limited reproductive health access in some of the affected countries. They also examine the role of the U.S. government in addressing Zika and its impact on women in Latin America and the Caribbean.

A new Washington Post/Kaiser Family Foundation survey explores what feminism means in today’s America, providing a detailed look at the complex views that both women and men hold about the word and the social movement that bears its name. Featured in a series of articles and interactive features online at…

This partnership survey from The Washington Post and the Kaiser Family Foundation explores what feminism means in today’s America, providing a detailed look at the complex views that both women and men hold about the word and the social movement that bears its name. The survey assesses the public’s priorities for improving women’s lives, their views on the relevance of the women’s movement, the role of government in promoting gender equality, their beliefs about discrimination, levels of social and civic engagement, and views on political and policy issues such as equal pay, birth control coverage, and abortion.

After Congress provided an unprecedented level of emergency funding for Ebola in FY15 in response to the West African outbreak, beyond regular appropriations for global health programs, FY16 returned to business as usual. There was no additional emergency funding and global health amounts remained essentially flat funding compared to prior years. The FY16 Omnibus Appropriations bill, which was signed into law by the President on December 18, 2015, included an estimated $10.2 billion in funding for global health programs continuing a trend of essentially flat funding since FY10.

Strong Support for U.S. Role in Combatting Zika At Home and Abroad When it comes to world affairs, majorities of Americans list fighting terrorism (64%), protecting human rights (60%), and protecting the environment and fighting climate change (51%) as top priorities for the president and Congress, finds a new Kaiser…

The U.S. government has a long history of supporting efforts to improve the health of women and families around the world. While many U.S. programs address women and family health generally, several are focused on them directly, including: maternal and child health (MCH), which includes immunization activities; family planning and reproductive health (FP/RH); and nutrition. This overview paper presents key findings for accompanying papers examining U.S funding for each of these sectors. They look at funding trends over time, the top country recipients of aid, the share of funding provided to the sector within the larger U.S. global health funding portfolio, and the role of the U.S. as a donor in the context of overall donor support.