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Last week, the Trump-Vance administration abruptly terminated 10,000 USAID and State Department contracts and grants, just 30 days into what was supposed to be a 90-day review process. This action jeopardizes the lives of millions of vulnerable people, further exacerbates instability, and alienates current and potential allies around the world, sending a signal that the United States is no longer a reliable global partner. 

Of particular concern to the Population Institute is the termination of funding for international family planning and reproductive healthcare—interventions that save lives today, empower families to build their futures, and create pathways to stability and sustainability for generations to come.  

The termination of 48 grants to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), for example, totaling approximately $377 million, will jeopardize critical maternal health care, protection from violence, rape treatment, and other life-saving care in more than 25 crisis-stricken countries, including Afghanistan, Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gaza, Haiti, Mali, Sudan, Syria, and Ukraine. Over the last four years, U.S. investments in UNFPA to expand access to voluntary family planning prevented more than 17,000 maternal deaths, 9 million unintended pregnancies, and nearly 3 million unsafe abortions. Terminating funding for these programs recklessly endangers the health and very survival of millions. 

Terminating such grants and dramatically reducing the foreign assistance workforce will not make America safer, stronger, or more prosperous; rather, it will foster deeper instability around the globe. Investments in voluntary family planning and reproductive health facilitate massive return on investment as girls continue their education and women enter the workforce. These milestones, in turn, build stronger families, communities, and countries—the critical foundations of global peace and prosperity that people in the United States and around the world depend on.  

For more than 50 years, the Population Institute has used our analytical strength to inform and advance responsible action from the U.S. government. In the face of current challenges, we will continue to direct our energies, in partnership with allies at home and abroad, to achieve a more just, equitable, and sustainable future for all.   

The abrupt termination of grants with a proven track record of success and the dismantling of foreign assistance infrastructure runs counter to the long-held values and promise of U.S. leadership in advancing a safe, prosperous, and resilient future, with opportunity for everyone. The U.S. Congress, Administration, and courts must take action to restart these vital programs. 

Since assuming office on January 20, the Trump/Vance administration has taken actions with significant implications for U.S. citizens, U.S. allies, and marginalized communities in the United States and around the world.  

These actions have paused government grants and assistance, disrupting programs that provide life-saving support to millions of people. Of particular concern is the President’s Executive Order on Reevaluating and Realigning United States Foreign Aid and the subsequent “stop work order,” which freezes all existing foreign assistance programming and pauses any new aid with very limited exceptions.   

Analysis by the Guttmacher Institute indicates that during the initial 90-day review period associated with this executive order, an estimated 11.7 million women and girls will be denied essential reproductive care, which could lead to millions of unintended pregnancies and thousands of women dying from complications related to pregnancy and childbirth. Further, the foreign assistance freeze also erases long-standing, high-impact programs that address historic barriers to opportunity, including programs that seek to combat child marriage, expand education for girls, and support economic opportunities for women.  

Such actions will not make the United States or the world healthier, more equitable, or sustainable. Erecting additional barriers to care, such as the global gag rule, will not make Americans safer. These actions instead jeopardize the lives of vulnerable people, further exacerbate instability, and alienate would-be allies around the world, sending a signal that the United States is no longer a reliable global partner. Additional efforts by the administration to diminish the standing and Congressionally mandated independence of the US Agency for International Development are cause for deep concern. We urge the administration to immediately restore funding flows and prevent further disruption and loss of life. 

These actions run counter to the long-held values and promise of U.S. leadership in advancing a safe, prosperous, and resilient future, with opportunity for everyone. For more than 50 years, the Population Institute has tirelessly sought to promote these values, utilizing our analytical strength to inform and advance responsible action from the U.S. government. In the face of current challenges, we will continue to direct our energies, in partnership with allies at home and abroad, to achieve a more just, equitable, and sustainable future for all.  

The outcomes of U.S. elections this month are likely to result in shifts in the U.S. government’s priorities, policies, and programs that will threaten prospects for progress on sexual and reproductive health and rights in the United States and around the world.

As we look ahead, we remain steadfast in our vision of a world where girls and women have achieved full gender equality, all women have access to reproductive health services, every child is a wanted child, and global population is brought into balance with a healthy global environment and resource base.

At the Population Institute, we will continue to analyze, distill, and communicate insights based on data and evidence to the people in power—insights that demonstrate the value and impact of robust investments in sexual and reproductive health and rights and gender equity.

We will continue to support and uplift the efforts of our allies and partners who work every day to advance the health and rights of women, girls, and vulnerable people, in the United States and around the world.

We will continue to promote policies and programs that improve prospects for a more just and sustainable future.

We look forward to joining with many others to advance this vision in the months and years ahead.

The Honorable Councilmember Brooke Pinto
Chair, Committee on Judiciary and Public Safety
Council of the District of Columbia 1350 Pennsylvania Ave.
Washington, D.C. 20004

Good afternoon councilmembers and thank you for your time,

My name is Maniza Habib. I am a resident of Washington D.C., a relative to survivors of child marriage, and a sexual and reproductive health researcher at the Population Institute, a D.C.-based non-profit that analyzes policy and advocates for sexual and reproductive health and rights and services both domestically and internationally.

I stand in full support of the Child Marriage Prohibition Amendment Act to ban child marriage in our city, and I am here to emphasize the urgent need for this law.

Too often, we hear misconceptions that harmful gender-based practices such as child marriage does not touch the lives of Americans. I recently co-authored a publication entitled, “Behind Closed Doors: Exposing Harmful Gender-Based Practices in the United States”, that reveals the deep and often hidden impacts of gender-based harm, including child marriage. Child marriage is a human rights violation that transcends borders and communities, and we have a responsibility to address it. This practice, while sometimes viewed as foreign or archaic, continues to affect individuals here in the United States, in our own communities, and in our city – all legally.

Child, early, and forced marriage is not just a violation of basic human rights; it has long-lasting, life-threatening consequences for women, girls, and the broader community. It is a serious population health issue. It is a potential entry point into a cycle of poverty, a way to control a girl’s sexuality and bodily autonomy, a path to increased domestic violence and reproductive coercion, and a denial of freedom and independence.

Child marriage impedes an individual’s bodily autonomy. Setting a minimum age of consent for marriage does not restrict the sexual and reproductive rights of young people. It is still equally important that young people have access to a full range of sexual health and reproductive services and resources, as well as protection from entering legal contracts that they may not have agreed to and cannot get out of, which may very well restrict their ability to access sexual health services in the first place.

Despite recent reforms across the country, loopholes and exceptions have led to thousands of minors being married, often with parental or judicial consent. In fact, between 2000 and 2018, an estimated 300,000 minors were married in the United States, most of them young girls married to adult men. Washington D.C. is not immune. From 2020 to 2023, there was an increase from two to fifteen minors getting married in the District. And because our neighboring states prohibit child marriage, D.C. has become even more vulnerable.

A recent report from Human Rights Watch found that U.S. states overwhelmingly fail to live up to key standards on child rights, including child marriage, as set by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. We are failing our children. The United States, and specifically Washington D.C., should be an example to follow and therefore we need to pass this legislation.

Child marriage is not welcome in Washington D.C. It is a form of gender-based violence that must end. We must listen to those who are affected the most—survivors and those at risk—and take decisive action to protect them. While awareness and education programs are essential, they are not enough on their own. We need clear, strong laws that reflect our collective stance against this practice. There is a severe lack of uniformity in laws across the United States regarding child marriage, but we must add the Nation’s capital to the states that stand against it.

The time to act is now! I urge you to support the Child Marriage Prohibition Amendment Act to set a minimum age of consent to marriage in the District of Columbia to 18, with no exceptions.

Let us set an example by ensuring that all minors are protected from entering harmful and exploitative marriages, and let us prioritize their right to safety, autonomy, and a future free from harm.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

Maniza Habib

¹ Habib, M., et. al. 2024. Behind closed doors: Exposing and addressing harmful gender-based practices in the United States. Population Institute. https://www.populationinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/PI-Behind-Closed-Door-REPORT_FINAL.pdf.

² National Forced Marriage Working Group. 2019. Framework for addressing forced marriage in the U.S. national action plan to end gender-based violence. Falls Church, VA: Justice Center.

³ Tahirih Justice Center. 2024. Following new dc council legislation and Tahirih Justice Center report, could Washington, DC become 14th locale in us to ban child marriage, without exception?. https://www.tahirih.org/news/following-new-dc-council-legislation-and-tahirih-justice-center-report-could-washington-dc-become-14th-locale-in-us-to-ban-child-marriage-without-exception/#:~:text=The%20Child%20Marriage%20Prohibition%20Amendment%20Act%20would%20set%20a%20minimum,co%2Dsponsored%20by%20two%20others.

⁴ King-Guffey, C. 2023. How Do US States Measure Up on Child Rights?. Human Rights Watch. https://www.hrw.org/feature/2022/09/13/how-dostates-measure-up-child-rights.

⁵ Tahirih Justice Center, Forced Marriage Initiative. 2023. The national movement to end child marriage. Falls Church, VA: Tahirih Justice Center.

In 1950, world population was estimated at 2.6 billion. It passed the 8 billion milestone on November 15, 2022.  Since then, global population has already grown roughly 2.5% to 8.2 billion.  The new UN report’s medium projection indicates global population will increase by roughly another 25% or 2.1 billion people, reaching 10.3 billion in the mid-2080s, before declining to 10.2 billion by the end of the century.

Commenting on these projections, Kathleen Mogelgaard, President and CEO of the Population Institute, made the following statement:

“Today’s revision of global population projections released by the UN Population Division underscores an increasing demographic divide around the world. It identifies more than 100 countries whose populations have already peaked or that will likely peak in the next thirty years. It also shows an even greater number of countries whose populations will continue to grow beyond the next thirty years—some even doubling. Many of those countries are among the world’s least developed nations.

“Examining these population trends helps us better understand how and where demographic trends affect people’s lives. For example, the UN report shows how persistent population growth in some countries is linked to child marriage and early childbearing, which curtails life opportunities and human rights.  In 2024, an estimated 4.7 million babies will have been born to girls under age 18.

“The report also underscores that embracing gender equality and women’s empowerment—including by removing barriers to family planning—helps counter rapid population growth.

“Reproductive autonomy—the ability to freely determine whether and when to have children–is a basic human right.  Yet it remains out of reach for too many women and girls. Many are pressured into marriage and having children while they are still children themselves.

“Thirty years ago, 179 nations came together for the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), where they agreed on a broad set of priorities and actions to advance human rights, including reproductive rights, as an approach to pursuing population and development goals. The ICPD was groundbreaking in its assertion that empowering women and girls was both the right thing to do and one of the most reliable pathways to sustainable development and improved wellbeing for all.

“The new UN population projections should prompt the international donor community revisit ICPD commitments and direct more attention and resources to the chronic inequities it sought to address. More support for family planning and educating and empowering girls could dramatically lower regional birth rates, generate strong economic returns, and improve prospects for a more just and sustainable future.”

April Is National Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month, But Slow Progress on State Laws, and Pending SCOTUS Decision on People Under Domestic Violence Restraining Orders Owning Guns, Indicate U.S. Gender-Based Harms Go Underrecognized

Today, the Population Institute, a nonprofit which advocates for gender equality and sexual and reproductive health, released a report on widespread harmful gender-based practices in the U.S., including female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C), child marriage, and femicide.

While few Americans realize these practices exist here, through meticulous research and analysis, the report, entitled “Behind Closed Doors: Exposing and Addressing Harmful Gender-Based Practices in the United States,” sheds light on their hidden prevalence and deep roots in American culture. They aren’t “foreign” problems; harmful, abusive gender practices are tragically embedded in American life, the report shows. They occur “behind closed doors,” but on a surprisingly large scale, and demand recognition and redress. For example:

• The U.S. positions itself as a leader in combatting FGM/C abroad, yet more than 500,000 women and girls in the U.S. are at risk or have already undergone FGM/C.
• An estimated 300,000 minors in the U.S. were married between 2000 and 2018, the vast majority underage girls.
• The U.S. has one of the highest rates of femicide among high-income countries, 2.2 per 100,000 women. Women in the U.S. are 28 times more likely to be intentionally murdered by guns than women in peer countries.

The report is designed to help bring these issues out of the shadows and give U.S. policymakers and communities tools to address them. It comes at a time when a national conversation about them is getting underway. April is national Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month. But courts and lawmakers are only just beginning to grapple with them, often ineffectively.

The Washington state and Virginia state legislatures just passed laws setting the minimum marriage age, though it’s unclear whether Governor Youngkin will sign Virginia’s new law. They were only the 11th and 12th states to pass such laws, an indicator of how embedded the practice of child marriage is in the U.S.

A decision is pending from the U.S. Supreme Court in United States v. Rahimi, a landmark gun law case that stands to greatly exacerbate the already high risk of femicide by loosening a loophole that would allow people under domestic violence restraining orders to obtain guns, on the theory that depriving them of gun rights violates the Second Amendment. That the Court would even consider such a question indicates how embedded femicide and the attitudes behind it are in the U.S.

Nine states and Washington D.C. still do not have any laws against FGM/C, according to the report, and of those that do, many lack provisions that fully protect those who are vulnerable and fail to inform communities about the harms of the practice. No states have laws against virginity testing, yet there have been reports of U.S. physicians receiving requests for virginity tests, including before a forced marriage.

Studies show gender-based harms disproportionately impact the LGBTQI+ community. The report highlights that at least 510 anti-LGBTQI+ bills were introduced across the United States in 2023, which stand to make the problem even worse, and indicate how far U.S. policy has to go to redress it.

Gender-based harms are an urgent social problem in the U.S, the report finds. Their lasting physical, emotional, social, and economic effects demand more community investment, advocacy work, and survivor-led initiatives. The report emphasizes the importance of a non-judgmental, non-stigmatizing attitude and calls for policymakers to approach gender-based harms with solidarity, humility, and empathy, both in international discussions, and in addressing them as urgent domestic issues in the U.S., seeking culturally competent solutions to build a society that respects the bodily autonomy, rights, and dignity of all individuals.

“By fostering global awareness, advocating for change, and building alliances across borders, rather than stereotyping gender-based harm as a ‘foreign’ problem, U.S. policymakers, practitioners, and communities can better contribute to dismantling oppressive structures and fostering a future where every individual is free from discrimination and gender-based harm,” the report states.

“To cast these gender-based harms as outside problems only is rooted in misguided American exceptionalism,” says report author Maniza Habib, research associate with the Population Institute. “This a major disservice to the countless individuals within our own communities who need support. ‘Behind Closed Doors’ is a wake-up call, urging us to confront the uncomfortable truth that harmful gender-based practices are a problem that involves us and our communities.”