Young people around the world are fighting to increase international family planning – and to end maternal mortality. We need your help!

Did you know that the leading cause of death for young women ages 15 to 19 in developing countries is complications from pregnancy? Did you know that 45 percent of new HIV infections are among young people ages 15-24?

It’s time to for the United States to make a bold statement to the world: America should commit at least $1 billion to international family planning. From campuses across the country to the halls of Congress, young people are working to make this vision a reality. We will be mobilizing during the next four weeks leading up to the 2009 Global Health Week of Action from March 30-April 3.

Together, we can make sure that all young people – no matter where they live – have access to family planning services that can often mean the difference between life and death.

Young women and men need information and access to contraception, family planning and HIV prevention services so that they can avoid unplanned pregnancy, too-early child bearing, unplanned parenthood, and STIs, including HIV. Young people have a right to be sexually healthy, live well now and plan their future regardless of where they live in the world.

It’s time for the United States to step up – and it’s up to us to make it happen!

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A petition to the U.S. Congress:

Reproductive and sexual health information and services are critically important to women – especially young women – around the world. In fact, complications from pregnancy are the leading cause of death for young women ages 15 through 19 in low- and middle-income countries.

Quality reproductive health care, which includes sex education, family planning services, and pre- and postnatal care, is often limited or nonexistent for young people.

More than 200 million women who want to delay or avoid pregnancy lack access to the modern methods of contraception to do so. It is estimated that the unmet need for family planning among young people is twice that among adults.

Reproductive and sexual health must remain a central component of a broader U.S. global development effort, as access to these services helps to reduce poverty, promote human rights, and secure social justice.

We must take action in support of the lives and well being of all young people around the world.

Together, we the undersigned:

Call on Congress to allocate at least $1 billion dollars in U.S. international family planning assistance for fiscal year 2010. Family planning programs reduce maternal and newborn mortality, reduce unintended pregnancies and the incidence of unsafe abortion, and increase the awareness, acceptability, and use of contraceptives among young people.

We further urge Congress to ensure that reproductive health programming is fully integrated with HIV and STI prevention and treatment programs. Health service delivery is most effective when individuals can access a range of services in one location.

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