Around the world, women and girls are bearing the brunt of the federal funding cuts to UNFPA. The health, safety, and security of millions of women in crisis regions who desperately need help, including in Afghanistan, is nothing more than a budget line item to the Trump administration.

NPR recently spoke with women in Afghanistan, where over 200 healthcare facilities were closed after USAID funding was cut.

Now, millions of pregnant women are at heightened risk of death, disease, or injury during childbirth.

Fatima, a midwife in Afghanistan, told NPR that after the funding cuts, “No one prioritizes women's lives."

She’s heard tragic stories of mothers dying in childbirth and newborns entering the world with complications and no one to help.

NPR spoke with local midwives who ”offered anecdotal accounts of women showing up at regional hospitals in labor and with complications that are sometimes deadly for the mother and the baby. The midwives believe that some of those complications could have been addressed if the women had accessed maternal care earlier in their labor.”

While the funding cuts have left a massive gap in funding, UNFPA is continuing to provide any care and support it can — funded by the generosity of donors like you. But their situation is dire, and they still need urgent help.

To continue serving the communities in most urgent need of support — like the communities in Afghanistan deeply impacted by funding cuts — please make a lifesaving gift to women and girls today.

Thank you for being there for women and girls,

USA for UNFPA