Biden urged to clarify that abortion aid abroad unaffected by Roe v Wade ruling

Senators also seek to correct misinterpretation by aid recipients of Helms amendment as a blanket ban on US funds for abortion

Noa Yachot
Fri 12 Aug 2022

Supporters of reproductive rights in Congress are calling on the government to clarify to foreign aid recipients that the end of abortion rights in the US does not affect US-funded family planning programs abroad, and to limit the damage of a half-century-old law that has functioned as a blanket ban that prevents US aid from supporting abortion care overseas.

Their efforts come as the Biden administration looks for ways to support abortion rights in the wake of the supreme court decision overturning Roe v Wade – which scrapped abortion rights – and amid signs that abortion rights could be a persuasive issue in midterm elections.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/aug/12/foregin-abortion-funding-limit-ban-senators-joe-biden

USA – It’s Time to End My Grandfather’s Harmful Legacy — the Helms Amendment

Biden already has the authority to roll back draconian abortion restrictions.

by ELLEN GADDY
07/28/2022

President Joe Biden and I have met many times throughout my life and over the course of his political career. Our last meeting was in 2008 at the funeral of my grandfather, the late Sen. Jesse Helms of North Carolina.

Biden and my grandfather started their first Senate terms together in 1973, the year Roe v. Wade was decided by the Supreme Court. Although my grandfather was a Republican who opposed civil rights, women’s rights, LGBTQ rights, HIV/AIDS research and abortion, Biden found a way to cross the political divide and work with him on some of these controversial issues, and even helped to soften his views over the years.

Continued: https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2022/07/28/biden-repeal-helms-amendment-on-abortion-00048533

Ukrainian Victims of Wartime Rape May Be Forced To Give Birth—All Thanks to This U.S. Policy

4/27/2022
by CHRISTINE RYAN

Seeking protection from Russian bombing and shelling amidst a siege of their city, thousands of civilians in Bucha bunkered down in subways and basements. But for some, the reprieve from artillery was not enough. For women and girls, there was no shelter from the sexual violence inflicted by Russian soldiers.

Rape, sexual slavery and forced pregnancy are among the war crimes reportedly suffered by women and girls in Bucha and in wider Ukraine. Yet, the cruelty endured by these victims does not end there. Thanks to U.S. policy, abortion may be unavailable to these women and girls.

Continued: https://msmagazine.com/2022/04/27/ukraine-war-rape-helms-amendment/

27.04.2022

Featured

News

Abortion Is Health Care Everywhere Act

To Be Pro-Choice, You Must Have the Privilege of Having Choices

April 11, 2022
By Monica Simpson, executive director of SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective

As a queer woman who grew up in North Carolina, I learned at an early age that my Blackness could be a source of great joy — but it could also pose a threat to my safety and autonomy.

In middle school, white boys laid their hands on me without my consent when I sharpened my pencil. To travel through town, I had to pass a building dedicated to Senator Jesse Helms, a champion of modern-day anti-abortion laws. It was all a daily reminder of the tight grip that whiteness had on my full liberation. I did not consent to that either.

Continued: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/11/opinion/abortion-black-brown-women.html

U.S. Politics Push the Global Poor to Unsafe Abortion

8/15/2021
by MARJORIE NEWMAN-WILLIAMS

Dr. Sukesh Sharma has worked as a gynecologist and surgeon for more than 40 years, providing services like safe abortion and tubal ligation to women in India. While he has seen progress in women’s reproductive healthcare since he started more than four decades ago—“At that time there were many untrained people doing abortions,” he said of his early career—he has also seen how U.S. politics have interfered with access to safe abortion and other services for Indian women.

Six times, Sharma has seen the global gag rule instated or repealed,
cutting off funding for his services and others, putting the lives of the women
he serves at risk.

Continued: https://msmagazine.com/2021/08/15/global-poor-unsafe-abortion-helms-amendment-global-gag-rule/

Lawmakers Introduce Bill to Get Rid of Helms Amendment—’A Racist, Colonial Relic’

One analysis estimates the repeal would result in 19 million fewer unsafe abortions each year.

Wednesday, March 10, 2021
By Andrea Germanos, staff writer, Common Dreams

A group of pro-choice congresswomen launched a fresh bid this week to get rid of a policy that blocks U.S. foreign assistance funds from going to abortion care services and that its critics call a "stark example of neocolonialism."

Led by Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), the group of lawmakers reintroduced on Tuesday the Abortion Is Health Care Everywhere Act, which would repeal the Helms Amendment.

Continued: https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/03/10/lawmakers-introduce-bill-get-rid-helms-amendment-racist-colonial-relic

USA – It’s past time to be rid of the legacy of Jesse Helms

by Anu Kumar and Serra Sippel
08/07/20

You’ve likely never heard of the Helms Amendment, or perhaps not until now that Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), along with Reps. Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.), Barbara Lee(D-Texas), Jackie Speier (D-Calif.), Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.), Diana DeGette (D-Colo.) and Norma Torres (D-Calif.), have introduced legislation to repeal it. But our guess is you’ve heard of the late North Carolina Sen. Jesse Helms.

In 1973, Helms, an outspoken opponent of civil rights — really, he opposed rights for anyone not white, male, heterosexual, American and Christian — introduced the Helms Amendment. The policy prohibits any U.S. foreign assistance funds from being used for “the performance of abortion as a method of family planning.” As written, the Helms Amendment allows for the provision of abortion information and counseling in cases of rape, incest and if a woman’s life is in danger. But in effect, it has been interpreted as a total ban on abortion-related services and information in developing countries.

Continued: https://thehill.com/opinion/international/511037-its-past-time-to-be-rid-of-the-legacy-of-jesse-helms

USA – Democrats introduce bill to repeal anti-abortion rule for US overseas aid

Critics of the Helms amendment, which currently prevents the use of aid to fund abortion services abroad, say it is ‘deeply rooted in racism’

Liz Ford

Wed 29 Jul
2020

The first bill to repeal a US law preventing aid from funding abortion services
overseas was introduced to congress on Wednesday.

Democratic congressswoman Jan Schakowsky said the Helms amendment, a policy
introduced in 1973, was “deeply rooted in racism” and must be replaced to allow
US money to be used to support safe abortion services worldwide.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2020/jul/29/democrats-introduce-bill-to-repeal-anti-abortion-rule-for-us-overseas-aid

29.07.2020

Population Connection

USA – Everything You Need to Know About the Helms Amendment’s Restriction on Abortion Funding

Everything You Need to Know About the Helms Amendment’s Restriction on Abortion Funding
Reproductive health, rights, and justice advocates say the Helms Amendment's ban on using foreign assistance funds for abortion deserves more attention.

Aug 23, 2019
Ally Boguhn

Abortion rights are a high-profile issue for Democrats on the 2020 presidential campaign trail. Candidates have stated their opposition to abortion funding restrictions like the Hyde Amendment and the Trump administration’s expanded global “gag rule.” But little attention has been paid in the race or the media to the Helms Amendment, a ban on foreign assistance funding for abortion.

Rewire.News asked the 2020 candidates about their stance on the anti-choice policy; ten thus far say they oppose it. The Helms Amendment—named for its sponsor, the late-Sen. Jesse Helms (R-NC)—states, “No foreign assistance funds may be used to pay for the performance of abortion as a method of family planning or to motivate or coerce any person to practice abortions.” The abortion funding ban was passed as part of the Foreign Assistance Act in 1973 in the aftermath of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Roe v. Wade legalizing abortion in the United States.

Continued: https://rewire.news/article/2019/08/23/everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-helms-amendments-restriction-on-abortion-funding/