When ‘Human Flourishing’ Means Closed Clinics

The latest expansion of the global gag rule stretches across nearly all U.S. foreign aid — and women and girls may pay the price.

Lauren Wolfe
Mar 04, 2026

There’s a phrase in a new post from the Women’s Refugee Commission that I can’t stop thinking about: “human flourishing.”

The newly announced “Protecting Human Flourishing in Foreign Assistance” rule expands something known as the global gag rule. That older policy, formally called the Mexico City Policy, blocks U.S. global health funding to any foreign organization that provides abortion, refers patients for abortion or even gives information about it — even if those activities are funded with non-U.S. money. It requires foreign NGOs to certify compliance as a condition of receiving U.S. assistance, effectively regulating speech and services far beyond the direct use of American funds.

Continued: https://chills.substack.com/p/when-human-flourishing-means-closed

04.03.2026

Promoting Human Flourishing in Foreign Assistance

Women's Refugee Commission

Women across EU celebrate approval of European Citizens Initiative on abortion rights

Friday, 27 February 2026
By Mose Apelblat

The European Commission gave a positive reply on Thursday to the initiative ‘My Voice, My Choice: For safe and accessible abortion’, which reached about 1.2 million verified signatures last year.

To be successful, a European Citizens' Initiative, which is the EU’s main instrument for participative democracy, must reach one million statements of support as well as minimum thresholds in at least seven Member States.

Continued: https://www.brusselstimes.com/1993475/european-women-celebrate-approval-of-european-citizens-initiative-on-abortion-rights

27.02.2026

News

abortion funding

European Citizens’ Initiative

European Commission

European Social Fund

Hadja Lahbib

My Voice My Choice campaign

EU Commission rejects new abortion financing proposal, points to existing fund

Countries may need to amend an existing fund to use it to support women who wish to travel to access abortion within the EU.

February 26, 2026
By Claudia Chiappa

BRUSSELS — The European Commission will not set up a new financing scheme to expand abortion access in Europe, rejecting a proposal backed by nearly 1.2 million European citizens.

The Commission, however, said countries could use an existing fund to help women pay for abortion services — something activists behind the campaign described as a “victory.” But first, some countries may need to amend programs covered by this fund.

Continued: https://www.politico.eu/article/european-commission-rejects-new-abortion-financing-proposal-points-to-existing-fund/

26.02.2026

News

abortion funding

Christine Anderson

Europe of Sovereign Nations

European Commission

European Social Fund

Hadja Lahbib

My Voice My Choice campaign

Europe

Human Rights

Politics

Canadian abortion group says it may have to shutter after losing government funding

Hannah Alberga, The Canadian Press
Jan 28, 2025

A national group that helps people who have trouble accessing abortion services says it may be forced to shut down in several months after Health Canada declined to renew its funding for the upcoming year.

Abortion Care Canada says it had sought $1.3 million from the federal government's Sexual and Reproductive Health Fund for the next fiscal year but will get nothing, despite having received about $2.2 million in total since the fund was established in 2021.

Continued: https://www.timescolonist.com/health/canadian-abortion-group-says-it-may-have-to-shutter-after-losing-government-funding-10144887

Trump’s global gag rule on abortion care will damage women’s health, rights, and futures

We must act to safeguard reproductive healthcare and forge a path less reliant on US assistance, says Carole Sekimpi

BMJ 2025; 388 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.r173 (Published 27 January 2025)
Carole Sekimpi, Africa director, MSI Reproductive Choices

As president of the United States, Donald Trump has the power to affect lives and healthcare well beyond his country’s borders. Since Trump returned to power this month, his reinstatement of the “global gag rule”12 has triggered the end of funding for any non-US based global health and development organisation that provides or advocates abortion care.

As the single largest funder of international aid, the US plays a powerful role in shaping the global health landscape—and women’s and girls’ lives are being used as pawns in this political game. My work overseeing reproductive health programmes in Africa for MSI Reproductive Choices gives me an understanding of the profound consequences that this will have on communities that Trump will never set foot in.

Continued: https://www.bmj.com/content/388/bmj.r173

27.01.2025

MSI Reproductive Choices

Madagascar – Don’t the Lives of Women and Girls Matter?

Jan. 11, 2025
By Nicholas Kristof - Opinion Columnist, reporting from Madagascar

When he returns to the White House, President-elect Trump is widely expected to slash funding for women’s health organizations around the world, and people on the left and the right alike are focused on what that means for abortions.

But the impact of any Trump cuts would go far, far beyond abortions, and would probably be devastating to millions of women and girls worldwide. Trump’s approach would reduce the availability of contraception and likely increase maternal mortality and cervical cancer.

Continued : https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/11/opinion/columnists/family-planning-women.html

12.01.2025

Election results show ‘urgency’ to get abortion funding at EU level, advocates say

By Lauren Chadwick
June 11, 2024

Women's rights campaigners say a surge in support for the far-right in Europe has made efforts to fund abortion at the EU level even more urgent than before.

Campaigners working to get a funding mechanism for abortion at a European level say the election results have made the effort even more urgent than before.

Continued: https://www.euronews.com/health/2024/06/11/election-results-show-urgency-to-get-abortion-funding-at-eu-level-advocates-say

11.06.2024

My Voice My Choice campaign

Europe

Human Rights

Politics

Will the world abort women’s rights after death of Roe v. Wade?

BY ELLEN WULFHORST, THOMSON REUTERS FOUNDATION
Nov 24, 2022

PATTAYA CITY, THAILAND – Women and girls around the world will suffer a knock-on effect from the U.S. decision to roll back abortion rights, experts say, predicting a global clampdown on hard-won female freedoms.

From access to abortion to voting rights, equal pay to equal status, women from Africa to Asia to Europe are expected to feel the fallout of the U.S. decision to reverse Roe v. Wade.

Continued: https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2022/11/24/world/women-rights-abortion/

BY ELLEN WULFHORST, THOMSON REUTERS FOUNDATION
Nov 24, 2022

From access to abortion to voting rights, equal pay to equal status, women from Africa to Asia to Europe are expected to feel the fallout of the U.S. decision to reverse Roe v. Wade.

Continued: https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2022/11/24/world/women-rights-abortion/

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

How California Created The Nation’s Easiest Abortion Access — And Why It’s Poised To Go Further

By Kristen Hwang | CalMatters
Apr 21, 2022

By this summer, the U.S. Supreme Court will issue a decision on the most consequential challenge to Roe v. Wade since the landmark ruling in 1973 guaranteed the constitutional right to obtain an abortion.

If federal abortion protections are eliminated or severely weakened— as legal experts expect — a cascade of absolute bans will follow in more than a dozen states. Already, six more states are considering so-called “trigger bans” in the lead-up to this summer’s decision, while dozens of other state legislatures are considering 15-week bans, abortion pill bans and bans modeled after Texas’ controversial law that allows private citizens to sue anyone who helps someone obtain an abortion after six weeks.

Continued: https://laist.com/news/health/how-california-created-the-nations-easiest-abortion-access-and-why-its-poised-to-go-further