Kenya – ‘Dumped babies are just the tip of the iceberg’: The deadly consequences of curbing reproductive rights

‘Dumped babies are just the tip of the iceberg’: The deadly consequences of curbing reproductive rights

Louise Donovan and Nasibo Kabale, in Nairobi
13 November 2019

It’s a hot mid-August morning, and Lydia Wambui’s bright green overalls are soaked. She’s standing knee-deep in Nairobi River, using a metal rod to catch rubbish lazily flowing down its murky waters.

“Sewage, bottle-tops, needles – people chuck everything in here,” she says, wiping sweat off her forehead before adding: “We also keep finding babies.”

Continued: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/women-and-girls/dumped-babies-just-tip-iceberg-deadly-consequences-curbing-reproductive/

Pregnant Women Overseas Lose Access to Pre-Natal Care Due to Trump’s ‘Global Gag Rule’

Pregnant Women Overseas Lose Access to Pre-Natal Care Due to Trump's 'Global Gag Rule'

By Brian Padden
July 18, 2019

WASHINGTON - Medical providers say some pregnant women in developing countries have lost access to prenatal health care because of the Trump administration’s expanded “global gag rule” that cut aid to international organizations involved in abortion-related activities.

A recent study in the Lancet Global Health journal also reports that abortions actually increased in Africa when these aid restrictions were enacted in the past.

Continued: https://www.voanews.com/usa/us-politics/pregnant-women-overseas-lose-access-pre-natal-care-due-trumps-global-gag-rule

The Effects of the Global Gag Rule Are Being Felt Everywhere

The Effects of the Global Gag Rule Are Being Felt Everywhere

Jul 2, 2018
Melvine Ouyo & Alexa Henderson

In Kenya, desperate pregnant women and girls who lack access to safe medical care because of funding cuts under Trump’s global gag rule are turning to "curtain clinics” to terminate their pregnancies. Such clinics are run by people who aren’t nurses or doctors.

The fallout of Trump’s global gag rule is upon us. Not a single week passes in Kenya without devastating media reports documenting how patients are going without needed reproductive health care and medical intervention thanks to the U.S. policy restricting funds to international clinics that discuss pregnancy termination regardless of the circumstance. The global gag rule is forcing health providers to either ignore that challenge or lose desperately needed aid for other services.

Continued: https://rewire.news/article/2018/07/02/effects-global-gag-rule-felt-everywhere/

Trump’s ban on global abortion funding has led to more abortions

Trump's ban on global abortion funding has led to more abortions

By Nima Elbagir, Lillian Leposo, and Eliza Mackintosh
Video by Alex Platt and Fabien Muhire
Graphics by Kara Fox and Henrik Pettersson
May 24, 2018

Nairobi, Kenya — Health worker Elizabeth Wanjiru was walking through the narrow streets of Kenya's largest slum earlier this year when she came across two schoolboys pointing at something in a muddy ditch. As she drew closer she saw it was the remains of an aborted fetus.

Dumped elsewhere in Kibera, the fetus had washed up in a narrow alleyway after a night of rainfall. It's something Wanjiru hasn't seen for years.

Continued: https://www.cnn.com/2018/05/24/health/trump-mexico-city-policy-abortion-ban-kenya-asequals-intl/index.html

Kenyan clinic loses Sh200m in US aid over Trump abortion policy

Kenyan clinic loses Sh200m in US aid over Trump abortion policy

Thursday May 3 2018
By KEVIN J. KELLEY

Kenya's longest-established family planning clinic has lost 60 per cent of its budget for defying a Trump administration policy forbidding women's health providers from offering information or services related to abortion.

Family Health Options Kenya has been forced to close one of its 14 clinics and curtail services at others due to US funding cuts amounting to Sh200 million ($2 million), Washington-based National Public Radio (NPR) reported on Wednesday.

Continued: https://www.nation.co.ke/news/Kenyan-clinic-choked-by-Trumps-gag-rule/1056-4543310-lrggua/index.html

Kenyan Clinic Rejects Trump Abortion Policy, Loses $2 Million In U.S. Aid

Kenyan Clinic Rejects Trump Abortion Policy, Loses $2 Million In U.S. Aid

May 2, 2018
Sasha Ingber

On January 23, 2017, President Trump signed an executive order that bans U.S. aid to any health organization in another country that provides abortions, advocates or makes referrals for the procedure.

The full impact of the order won't be felt until September. That's when the U.S. government fiscal year comes to an end. At that point, every international organization that does not comply with the order will be excluded from U.S. funding, says Marjorie Newman-Williams, president of Marie Stopes International-US, an organization that provides contraception and safe abortion in dozens of countries.

Continued: https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2018/05/02/604425181/kenyan-clinic-rejects-trump-abortion-policy-loses-2-million-in-u-s-aid

Kenyan health providers call Trump’s global gag rule ‘a death sentence’ for women

Kenyan health providers call Trump's global gag rule 'a death sentence' for women

November 02, 2017
By Traci Tong

We've been given a death sentence." Listen to the Story.

That's how one Kenyan health clinic views President Donald Trump's ban on US federal funding for international groups that provide, support or discuss abortions. Critics call the policy the "global gag rule."

The US already prohibits the use of funds for foreign family planning centers that provide abortions. But the global gag rule goes one step further in that it restricts doctors or other health providers in these centers from even mentioning the word, "abortion," to their patients.

Continued at source: https://www.pri.org/stories/2017-11-02/kenyan-health-providers-call-trumps-global-gag-rule-death-sentence-women

‘It is a death warrant’: Kenyan health experts cross an ocean to talk Trump administration’s gag rule

‘It is a death warrant’: Kenyan health experts cross an ocean to talk Trump administration’s gag rule

By Zach Varda, October 27, 2017

It was a rare occurrence on campus — speakers at the front of the room and none of the students in attendance touched their phone.

That was the scene Thursday night when the #Fight4HER campaign came to Ohio State to speak out against the Global Gag Rule instituted by President Donald Trump. The policy bars any foreign nongovernmental organizations that receive U.S. global health aid from discussing safe, legal abortion with their patients.

“A policy that is literally going to cost hundreds of thousands of lives directly or indirectly,” Lisa Shannon, a long-time advocate for women’s rights in Africa, said in an interview prior to the event. “It is a death warrant.”

Continued at source: https://www.thelantern.com/2017/10/it-is-a-death-warrant-kenyan-health-experts-cross-an-ocean-to-talk-trump-administrations-gag-rule/