Melinda Gates: Access To Contraceptives Empowers Women

Originally posted on National Geographic on February 3, 2017.

In a recent op-ed, Melinda Gates of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation shared why she advocates for over 225 million women around the globe who still lack access to modern contraceptives. Read an excerpt from "Want to Empower Women Worldwide? Give Them Access to Contraceptives" below:

Like most women I know, I have used contraceptives for many years. I knew I wanted to work both before and after becoming a mom, so I delayed getting pregnant until Bill and I were sure we were ready to start our family. Twenty years later, we have three children, born almost exactly three years apart. None of that happened by accident.

The decision about whether and when to get pregnant was a decision that Bill and I made based on what was right for me and what was right for our family—and that’s something I feel lucky about. There are still over 225 million women around the world who don’t have access to the modern contraceptives they need to make these decisions for themselves.

In the decade and a half since Bill and I started our foundation, I’ve heard from women all over the world about how important contraceptives are to their ability to take charge of their futures. When women are able to plan their pregnancies around their goals for themselves and their families, they are also better able to finish their education, earn an income, and fully participate in their communities.

And not only do moms benefit; their kids benefit, too. In communities where women have access to contraceptives, children stay in school longer, and entire families are healthier, wealthier and far better equipped to break the cycle of poverty.

For all of these reasons, in 2012, I co-chaired a summit that brought leaders from around the world together around the goal of expanding expand access to contraceptives for the women who desperately want and need them. The global partnership, called Family Planning 2020, pledged to get 120 million more women access to contraceptives by the year 2020. It was an ambitious but achievable goal—and an important promise to women in the world’s poorest places that they will not be forgotten.

Unfortunately, our progress has not yet lived up to our ambition. We are now more than halfway to the 2020 deadline, but not yet on track to reach 120 million women by the promised date. As of the halfway point in July 2016, we had reached 24 million additional women with family planning services. Unless we begin making up for lost time, we will miss this chance to make this a turning point for women around the world.

Read the full article on National Geographic.

View Melinda Gates' note of commitment after the reinstatement of the Mexico City Policy.

View the letter to colleagues from the Director of the Bill & Melinda Gates Institute for Population and Reproductive Health after the reinstatement of the Mexico City Policy.

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Photo courtesy of courtesy Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation