The UK government announced its plan to cut 85% of aid funding pledged to the United Nations global family planning program. According to the UN Population Fund, that’s a decrease from £154 million to £23m this year.

The program provides vital contraception and health care support to marginalized women and girls across Africa. It also works with local governments so that they can provide these resources to women and girls themselves.

The £130m lost would have helped prevent about 250,000 maternal and child deaths, 14.6 million unintended pregnancies and 4.3 million unsafe abortions in some of the poorest areas in the world.

Unplanned pregnancies also lead to fewer girls being able to obtain an education and better themselves and their communities. The knock-on effects of these planned cuts will be devastating according to many experts. We need to send the message that the UK  abandoning its commitment to women and girls is unacceptable!

We want to deliver this petition to the UK government to show that their actions are being observed by the entire world. They need to CANCEL the cuts to the UN Family Planning Program. Women and girls’ rights are human rights!

(Sources: https://news.un.org/en/story/2021/04/1090892?xx

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-56924128.amp )