African countries are trying to liberalize their abortion laws. Trump’s ‘global gag rule’ is making that difficult.

African countries are trying to liberalize their abortion laws. Trump’s ‘global gag rule’ is making that difficult.
Activists say the policy has forced some countries to take a step backward

Abigail Higgins
March 5, 2020

In 2016, churches in the small southeastern African country of Malawi did something surprising: They backed a law to expand abortion access.

At the time, Reverend Alex Benson Maulana, chair of the Malawi Council of Churches (MCC), said that abortion was still a sin. But Malawi was also facing a crisis: In a country with one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world, 18 percent of those deaths were due to unsafe abortions.

Continued: https://www.thelily.com/african-countries-are-trying-to-liberalize-their-abortion-laws-trumps-global-gag-rule-is-making-that-difficult/

How a change in U.S. abortion policy reverberated around the globe

How a change in U.S. abortion policy reverberated around the globe
Health-care workers in Madagascar and dozens of other countries have faced new obstacles since Trump signed an order tying U.S. aid to antiabortion rules.

By Max Bearak and Carol Morello
Photo and video by Carolyn Van Houten
Oct. 10, 2018

BETSINGILO, Madagascar — Nana thought for a second, and then shook her head. Donald Trump? No, never heard of him.

Her humble, earthen home and field of cassava are about as far from Washington as it gets. She lives in Madagascar, an impoverished island hundreds of miles off the coast of Africa — and tiny Betsingilo is a week-long trip by bus from the country’s capital.

The distance has not stopped Trump’s foreign policy from affecting people’s lives here.

Continued: https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2018/world/how-a-change-in-us-abortion-policy-reverberated-around-the-globe/

In Closed-Door UN Meetings, Trump Administration Officials Pushed Abstinence For International Women’s Health Programs

In Closed-Door UN Meetings, Trump Administration Officials Pushed Abstinence For International Women’s Health Programs

Members of HHS, USAID, and the US Mission to the UN asked for references to contraception, abortion, and comprehensive sex education to be struck from a document on international gender equality, calling the US a "pro-life nation."

April 17, 2018
Ema O'Connor, BuzzFeed News Reporter

In closed-door meetings at the United Nations in March, Trump administration officials pushed socially conservative views on women’s rights issues — including abstinence-based policies over information about contraception — that were further to the right than those expressed by most other countries present, including Russia and the representative for the Arab states, UN officials who attended the meetings told BuzzFeed News.

The Trump officials’ approach at the UN meeting makes it clear that the administration intends to extend its views on abortion, contraception, and sexual education beyond US borders to an extent that is unusual even for Republican administrations.

continued: https://www.buzzfeed.com/emaoconnor/un-meeting-trump-administration-abstinence?utm_term=.nyJLW2dpq#.qy9Yw78QE