November 5, 2020

Since Ronald Reagan first implemented the Mexico City Policy in 1984, also known as the “Global Gag Rule”, every Republican President elected since then has signed this into law. The policy blocks U.S. federal funding for non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that provide abortion counseling or referrals, advocate to decriminalize abortion, or expand abortion services.

But when Trump took office in January 2017, two days after the historic Women’s March, he not only signed the GGR (which President Obama did not), he implemented an expanded version which impacted not just family planning NGOs, but all U.S. global health assistance, increasing the amount of money affected by the policy from roughly $600 million to about $12 billion in estimated planned funding in 2018. The new iteration covered work unrelated to family planning, including projects related to HIV/AIDS, nutrition, malaria, water and sanitation, tuberculosis and other infectious diseases, according to the Guttmacher Institute.

Continued: https://www.girltalkhq.com/kenyan-reproductive-health-nurse-explains-the-chilling-impact-of-the-global-gag-rule-how-she-defends-womens-health/