Contact: Lisa Correnti, Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute (C-FAM), 202-393-7002, lisa@c-fam.org

LONDON, July 6, 2012 /Standard Newswire/ -- The London Summit on Family Planning convened by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in London on July 11 plans to raise billions of dollars for family planning and population control groups. It also expects commitments from governments to overthrow "barriers" to contraception such as parental involvement and religious beliefs – the same obstacles that exist for abortion – and for "all members of the global community" to fund and advocate for contraception.

C-FAM is sending a team to London to cover the Summit and outlying events.

"This is a new chapter in the population control movement. Elite billionaires and powerful governments use the guise of 'helping poor women' to extract permanent funding for abortion-promoting and population control groups. Contraception will have a higher priority than education, basic health care, infrastructure, and economic improvements – diverting funding from measures that empower women and communities. None of the contraception programs help pregnant women or newborns," said Wendy Wright, Interim Executive Director of C-FAM.

Summit backers claim 215 million women have an "unmet need" for contraception. This includes women who choose not to use contraception because of dislike of side effects, infrequent sexual activity, or religious objections. Women who have no expressed desire for contraceptives are reported as needing it – along with women "who require motivation to want what they are presumed to need," says Harvard professor Lant Pritchett.

The World Bank reports, "unmet need should not be equated with the lack of access to contraception . . . women with unmet need may still not have any intention to use contraception were it readily accessible and of good quality."

"This explains the Summit's overbearing goal to 'increase demand' for contraception. It is a stark admission that many of the targeted women don't want what the elites are pushing," said Wright.

The USAID budget for Family Planning & Reproductive Services is $524 million. This is more than the budgets for tuberculosis, public health threats, pandemic influenza, vulnerable children, and nutrition combined. USAID is budgeted to cut maternal and child health funding by $28 million, including reductions to nutrition programs while budget requests for family planning have increased.

For more information "4 Problems with the London Family Planning Summit" Fact Sheet is available at c-fam.org