While Americans debate contraception coverage, women elsewhere in the world are dying in childbirth (pregnancy is the biggest killer of teenage girls worldwide), despairing because they can’t feed their children, or living with debilitating wounds incurred because of inadequate labor and postpartum care.
But last week, the British government and billionaire philanthropist Melinda Gates hosted international leaders at the London Summit on Family Planning. Gates pledged $560 million to expand contraception to women in poor countries, thus augmenting the pledges made by Britain and African leaders to $4.3 billion. A lifelong Catholic, Gates said she cannot agree with the church’s stance on contraception:
There are amazing . . . moral teachings that I do believe in, but I also have to think about how we keep women alive. I believe in not letting women die, I believe in not letting babies die, and to me that’s more important than arguing about what method of contraception [is right].
