State Department pressed to increase aid for women impacted by Ebola outbreak
A bipartisan group of U.S. senators is urging the State Department to release family planning funds and supplies to the Democratic Republic of the Congo. They argue that the current freeze is exacerbating a maternal health crisis during an ongoing Ebola outbreak.
Why it matters
The situation highlights the intersection of international health policy, humanitarian aid, and domestic political shifts in foreign assistance.
A bipartisan pair of senators is urging Secretary of State Marco Rubio to unlock family planning funding and supplies for women caught in the Ebola outbreak sweeping the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s east, warning that the Trump administration’s freeze on such aid is deepening a maternal health crisis.
In a letter shared first with Semafor, Sens. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., and Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, asked Rubio to use $608 million in international family planning funds from the fiscal year 2026 appropriations bill and release $1.7 million worth of already-purchased contraceptive products which, the senators said, would otherwise be destroyed.
They also pressed for a “humanitarian exemption” allowing US support for the UN Population Fund, or UNFPA, so it can resume sexual and reproductive health programming in the affected region. President Donald Trump withdrew from the organization earlier this year.
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