How Trump’s abortion gag rule policy impacts the global AIDS crisis

How Trump's abortion gag rule policy impacts the global AIDS crisis

By Rory Smith, CNN
Tue July 31, 2018

(CNN)New findings presented last week at the 22nd International AIDS Conference reveal how President Donald Trump's expansion of the so-called global gag rule -- which restricts US health assistance funding to non-US NGOs that offer abortion services -- is likely to have widescale negative effects on the fight against the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

Four hundred seventy non-US NGOs working in the prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS across the world might be subject to the expanded global gag rule, according to new data presented at the conference. These organizations received $900 million from fiscal year 2013 to fiscal year 2015.

Continued: https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/31/health/trumps-gag-rule-effects-hiv-aids-intl/index.html

Reality Check: Year One Impact of Trump’s Global Gag Rule

Reality Check: Year One Impact of Trump’s Global Gag Rule
Jun 6, 2018

Click to view the full report [PDF]

Executive Summary

On January 23, 2017, President Trump issued a Presidential Memorandum reinstating and expanding the Mexico City Policy, also known as the “Global Gag Rule.” President Trump’s implementation plan for the expanded policy, called “Protecting Life in Global Health Assistance,” was announced in May 2017. The policy states that any foreign nongovernmental organization that takes US global health funds must certify that they do not engage in certain abortion-related activities, including providing abortion services, information, counseling and referrals, and advocating to expand access to safe abortion services. The Global Gag Rule applies to what organizations do with their own non-US government funds and forces health care providers to choose between providing a comprehensive spectrum of reproductive health care and receiving critical US funding. Trump’s Global Gag Rule expands a bad policy enacted by previous Republican presidents since Ronald Reagan, but now implicating almost $9 billion in US foreign assistance and affecting many organizations that had not previously had to comply with it.

Continued: https://iwhc.org/resources/reality-check-year-one-trump-global-gag-rule/

Report Slams Trump’s Abortion ‘Gag Rule’

Report Slams Trump’s Abortion ‘Gag Rule’
A rule first imposed by Ronald Reagan and intensified by Donald Trump doesn’t prevent abortions in developing countries and limits other unrelated medical services, according to a new analysis.

By Paul D. Shinkman, Senior National Security Writer
June 5, 2018

President Donald Trump's unprecedented expansion of a rule prohibiting U.S. funds to international aid groups that discuss or perform abortions is having a severe effect on countries most in need of global support, according to a new study, including prior claims the policy leads to millions of unwanted pregnancies and unsafe abortions and tens of thousands of deaths.

The policy – which applies to $9 billion in funds appropriated to multiple government agencies – is having wide-reaching effects, including shutting down funding to some nongovernmental organizations that served as the sole source of health care in developing countries hard-hit by sexually transmitted diseases and unintended pregnancies, according to the report "Prescribing Chaos in Global Health: The Global Gag Rule From 1984-2018" conducted by the Center for Health and Gender Equality or CHANGE, released on Tuesday.

Continued: https://www.usnews.com/news/best-countries/articles/2018-06-05/report-trumps-foreign-abortion-gag-rule-harms-developing-countries-other-foreign-aid

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

Exporting Censorship: How U.S. Restrictions on Abortion Speech and Funding Violate International Law, Part 2

Exporting Censorship: How U.S. Restrictions on Abortion Speech and Funding Violate International Law, Part 2
May 7, 2018
Akila Radhakrishnan & Kristin Smith

Part 2: The Global Gag Rule and Freedom of Association

This is the second of a two-part post illustrating how U.S. abortion restrictions violate the ICCPR’s requirements for lawful restrictions on the freedom of speech and association, which is examined in more detail in the Global Justice Center’s recent brief. Although the Helms and Siljander Amendments (discussed in Part 1) also violate the freedom of association in various ways, this post focuses on the Global Gag Rule and its unique effects on the freedom of association.

Continued: https://ilg2.org/2018/05/07/exporting-censorship-how-u-s-restrictions-on-abortion-speech-and-funding-violate-international-law-part-2/

Nigeria – ‘Global Gag Rule affecting NGOs’

‘Global Gag Rule affecting NGOs’
Posted By: OYEYEMI GBENGA-MUSTAPHA
May 4, 2018

Olayide Akanni is the Executive Director of Journalists Against AIDS (JAAIDS) Nigeria, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) on the prevention, care and control of HIV, AIDS and tuberculosis. In this interview, she tells OYEYEMI GBENGA-MUSTAPHA how the Mexico City Policy, also called Global Gag Rule (GGR), introduced by the United States government will affect NGOs.

She has worked in many non-governmental organisatons (NGOs) over the years. Ms Olayide Akanni worked, among others, on Journalists Against AIDS (JAAIDS), African Civil Society Coalition on HIV/AIDS in promoting HIV/AIDS and TB treatment literacy, building capacity for media and civil society groups, and monitoring universal access to prevention, treatment and care services.

Continued: http://thenationonlineng.net/global-gag-rule-affecting-ngos/

Trump’s Abortion Gag Rule Is Hurting Reproductive Rights Around the Globe

Trump’s Abortion Gag Rule Is Hurting Reproductive Rights Around the Globe
This administration’s version of the Global Gag Rule could impact up to 26 million women worldwide.

By Michelle Chen
March 6, 2018

In January, women marked one year of Trump’s presidency by rallying in protest, showing they refused to be silenced by Trump’s oppressive regime. But January also saw the first anniversary of the Global Gag rule, the administration’s ban on international-aid funding for groups linked to abortion-related family-planning services.

The gag rule does not directly ban abortion-related services in aid-receiving communities but, rather, links major funding from USAID to strict rules on avoiding facilitation or promotion of abortion in any way. USAID is currently a dominant contributor to global family-planning programs, supporting some $600 million in grants for service providers within a multibillion-dollar framework of global health aid. Trump’s gag rule revives Reagan-era strictures on services, and expands them an estimated 16 times, according to the Global Fund for Women.

Continued: https://www.thenation.com/article/trumps-abortion-gag-rule-is-hurting-reproductive-rights-around-the-globe/

How a White House reversal affects a village in Madagascar

How a White House reversal affects a village in Madagascar
On an island where 10 women a day die from complications from pregnancy and childbirth, the funding cutoff by USAID because of its new abortion rules can have serious consequences.

By Annie Burns-Pieper
Special to the Star
Sat., Nov. 25, 2017

AMPAHO, MADAGASCAR—Ampaho feels like the edge of the world, somewhere most people, even in Madagascar, will never go.

The community of 240 small bamboo huts sits along a slow-moving waterway not far from the shore of the Indian Ocean on Madagascar’s east coast. The trip from the capital, Antananarivo, to Ampaho takes two days by car along the country’s winding roads followed by a meandering voyage on a rustic boat through the Panagalane canal.

On a rainy night five years ago, Marigrety Razafindramiarana’s daughter Marthe ran into trouble giving birth to her eighth child. The family had few options.

Continued at source: https://www.thestar.com/news/insight/2017/11/25/how-a-white-house-reversal-affects-a-village-in-madagascar.html