JANUARY 21, 2021
By Emma Batha
(Thomson Reuters Foundation) - President Joe Biden’s decision to scrap a “deadly” Trump-era policy banning funding for aid groups that discuss abortion could unleash billions in dollars for life-saving services in developing countries, women’s rights groups said on Thursday.
“It’s very, very good news. It sends a strong message that reproductive rights are human rights,” said Evelyne Opondo, Africa director at the Center for Reproductive Rights.
US medical adviser’s speech to WHO signals major turnaround on global health policy by Biden administration
Michael Safi, The Guardian
Thu 21 Jan 2021
The Biden administration will repeal anti-abortion restrictions on American aid and join the international vaccine-sharing scheme Covax, Anthony Fauci has announced in remarks signalling a major turnaround in US global health policy.
Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, announced the changes in a speech to the World Health Organization on Thursday morning after being chosen to head the US delegation to the global health group in one of the first acts of Joe Biden’s presidency.
Biden vowed to repeal the ‘global gag rule,’ but Trump’s ‘anti-woman rhetoric’ isn’t necessarily going away
Urooba Jamal
Jan. 19, 2021
In 2019, Melvine Ouyo, a health policy expert and reproductive rights activist, attended a conference in her city of Nairobi, where antiabortion campaigners were protesting the event. Shortly after that, Ouyo said, she met a pregnant 14-year old girl who had no information about how she could access a safe abortion if she chose.
Ouyo said she believes that if the Trump administration’s “global gag rule” — a U.S. foreign aid policy that restricts funding for abortion-related services — had not been in place, the campaigners wouldn’t have had such a prominent platform, and the girl would have had more information about her reproductive health options.
"We have a ton of work to do to undo the harm over the last four years," said Planned Parenthood President and CEO Alexis McGill Johnson.
Jan. 18, 2021
By Chloe Atkins, NBC News
President-elect Joe Biden is poised to roll back several of the Trump administration's most restrictive sexual and reproductive health policies, including limits on abortion.
Reproductive rights advocates expect Biden to quickly overturn Trump-era rules, like banning federal funds for foreign and national health organizations that promote and provide abortion and giving employers more freedom to deny free contraceptive coverage for their workers.
President-elect Joe Biden can commit to combatting disinformation campaigns that have targeted reproductive and sexual health, rights, and justice issues.
Jan 6, 2021
Galina Espinoza, Rewire
When President-elect Joe Biden assumes office on January 20, he will face immediate pressure from reproductive rights advocates to undo many of the harmful measures restricting access to vital health care.
From the Hyde Amendment, which bans federal funding for abortion, to 2019’s devastating Title X changes, which include a rule that clinics receiving federal money can’t refer patients for abortion care, the list of ruinous policies in need of review is long, and it impacts the lives of millions.
The incoming Biden administration is set to adopt policies that promote equality and human rights around the world, says Katherine Zappone
Katherine Zappone
TUE, 15 DEC, 2020
One of many reasons to welcome Donald Trump’s departure from the White House is that a deeply damaging and harmful piece of foreign policy is expected to exit with him.
The so-called ‘Global Gag Rule’, a policy which prohibits US aid to foreign nongovernmental organisations who refer to or advocate abortion services, has cost the lives of tens of thousands of women and girls in the poorer regions of the world during the past four years.
Continued: https://www.irishexaminer.com/opinion/commentanalysis/arid-40190628.html
December 3, 2020
Nurith Aizenman
Among the promises that President elect-Biden is expected to fulfill immediately upon taking office: lifting a ban that President Trump imposed on U.S. foreign aid dollars related to abortion.
Specifically, the ban prohibits foreign aid funding for privately-run overseas-based groups that "perform or actively promote abortion as a method of family planning" for women. Among the activities that are barred: providing referrals for abortion or offering advice or medical information on the procedure. And this is prohibited even if the group funds their communications around abortions with non-U.S. sources.
Critics say the policy has led to deep cuts in funding for family planning
Nelly Munyasia, Womba Wanki
2 Dec 2020
On 23 January 2017, United States President Donald Trump issued an expansion of the Mexico City Policy, or “global gag rule” (GGR), last implemented under George W Bush. The GGR blocks US global health assistance to any foreign nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) that perform abortions, except in cases of rape, incest, or threat to the life of the woman; provide counselling on, or referrals for, abortion; or lobby for the liberalisation of abortion law. This stance is enforced even if the NGOs use non-US funds for these aspects of healthcare.
She Decides — a global women’s rights movement, of which we’re both members — was a direct response to the reinstatement of the GGR and its devastating effect on the lives and freedoms of women and girls. We are, therefore, encouraged by early indications that president-elect Joe Biden is expected to rescind this devastating rule as one of the new administration’s first acts.
December 1, 2020
Sarah McCammon
Like many abortion rights opponents, Tom McClusky is feeling good about battles won under President Trump during his four years in office.
"He has probably done more pro-life things than many Republicans who have had two terms," McClusky said.
Continued: https://www.npr.org/2020/12/01/935947603/what-joe-bidens-election-means-for-abortion-rights
November 22, 2020
By Sam Oditah
A 47-year-old single mother, Jane (surname withheld), lived in her dilapidated family house in a serene neighbourhood in Umuahia, the Abia capital. She relocated from Lagos in 2017 due to economic difficulties.
She lived with her 12-year-old daughter, Ebere, a junior secondary school student, and her aged auntie in a one-room apartment.
Painfully, Jane died on March 10 in rather sudden and bizarre circumstances.
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