U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) and Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen are leading a group of bipartisan Members of Congress who joined in introducing legislation to provide $70 million over two years to prevent and treat obstetric fistula which afflicts more than 2 million women worldwide. 

    Specifically obstetric fistula is an excruciatingly painful hole or rupture in tissues surrounding a woman’s vagina, bladder, or rectum that occurs when the women is in obstructed childbirth for a prolonged period of time without adequate medical attention. The prolonged pressure of the baby’s head on the mother’s pelvis during childbirth can cause the child’s death as well as significant damage to the mother.

    “If not prevented, obstetric fistula can be treated and repaired through a relatively minor surgical procedure that costs as little as $150 per patient,” said Smith the Vice-Chairman of the International Relations Committee. “Still, a large percentage of women who suffer tremendous pain and isolation in the developing world are unaware that the treatment exists and may spend their lives suffering needlessly from this condition.” 

    “Obstetric fistula is a devastating condition which greatly affects the lives of many women,” said Ileana Ros-Lehtinen the most senior woman on the International Relations Committee and the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Europe and the Middle East. “I am happy to join my colleague Chris Smith in cosponsoring this important legislation. It is critical that we work together to ensure that the women of our world have access to the highest quality care."

    Smith added: “Our bill provides the resources needed to help these women and ensure that in addition to prevention of obstetric fistula, treatment of this harmful condition is an important priority of our foreign aid healthcare programs.”

    Currently, the United States Agency for International Development provides assistance for programs that target prevention of obstetric fistula, but not programs that target treatment. In addition to enduring severe pain, many women suffer social isolation and abandonment from husbands, family members, and employers because of their condition.

    “This important legislation authorizes the President to establish at least 12 centers for the treatment of obstetric fistula at appropriate sites in developing countries,” Ros-Lehtinen said. “There is a particular emphasis on countries in Africa where mothers, who are very young, lack access to emergency obstetrical care for difficult births and lack access to medical centers with the capacity to treat obstetric fistula.”

    “Women in the developing world are enduring unspeakable physical pain from an abscess that can be repaired. Through surgery and post-surgery treatment, hundreds of thousands of women can be physically cured and emotionally healed from this devastating condition,” Smith said.

    The legislation also boosts prevention programs already underway by expanding activities that reduce the incidence of obstetric fistula, such as conducting training seminars and disseminating appropriate educational materials for expectant mothers, as well as midwives and other persons who usually assist in birth.