Attacks on reproductive health will have devastating consequences worldwide

MSF is committed to ensuring people have access to sexual and reproductive health services, but we cannot do it alone.

January 28, 2025

Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) condemns the Trump Administration’s recent reinstatement of the Mexico City Policy, more commonly known as the Global Gag Rule, as well as the US government’s support of the so-called Geneva Consensus Declaration.

The Global Gag Rule prevents organizations abroad from using their own non-US government funds to provide or advocate for safe abortion care as a condition to receive US global health assistance. This includes direct services, as well as information, counseling, and referrals, even in countries where abortion is legal. When the policy was last in place from 2017 to 2021, critical health programs were disrupted and suspended in low- and middle-income countries.

Continued: https://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/latest/attacks-reproductive-health-will-have-devastating-consequences-worldwide

28.01.2025

Commentary

Avril Benoît

Doctors Without Borders

Geneva Consensus Declaration

Global Gag Rule

Global HER Act

Helms Amendment

Médecins Sans Frontières

It’s time for a permanent repeal of the global gag rule

by Maniza Habib, opinion contributor
Sept 8, 2024

Project 2025, the policy agenda created by conservative activists and spearheaded by The Heritage Foundation, envisions sweeping changes to U.S. government policy. Among them, buried within the more than 900-page document, is a vast expansion of the global gag rule, which family planning providers across the world warn threatens abortion rights worldwide, even in countries where it is currently legal.

Project 2025 refers to the rule by its more innocuous sounding name, the “Mexico City Policy,” but a gag order is what it is. It prohibits foreign non-governmental organizations that receive U.S. funding from promoting, providing or referring patients to abortion services (with some exceptions for rape, incest and pregnancies that are life-threatening), or even advocating abortion law reform. Just mentioning the a-word would jeopardize their U.S. funding and their work, and for many non-profits, their very existence. So they aren’t allowed to talk about it.

Continued: https://thehill.com/opinion/international/4866475-project-2025-global-gag-rule/

08.09.2024

Protecting Life in Global Health Assistance

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/

What Is The Global Gag Rule & How Does It Affect Abortion Access Around The World?

Alice Broster
Feb 8, 2021

It’s been estimated that between 2015 and 2019 around 121 million unintended
pregnancies occurred around the globe. Of those, 61% ended in abortion. This
equates to around 73 million abortions every year. This can mean very different
things depending on where you live. For a termination to be considered safe it
should be carried out by someone who is trained and in an environment that’s
clean. For many people, this isn’t an option. So, what is the global gag rule?
It’s been reported that President Biden will end the U.S. government's efforts
to restrict access to reproductive rights and healthcare around the world
through the Mexico City Policy, AKA the global gag rule.

Continued: https://www.forbes.com/sites/alicebroster/2021/02/08/what-is-the-global-gag-rule--how-does-it-affect-abortion-access-around-the-world/

‘You can’t just remove the damage of the last four years’

Reproductive rights groups cautiously welcome Biden's reversal of Trump's abortion access restrictions

By Kara Fox and Nicole Gaouette, CNN
Sat January 30, 2021

For more than four years, countries that rely on American foreign aid have been reeling from the profound impact that Donald Trump's reinstatement of the Mexico City policy has had on women.

The policy, known as the "global gag rule" among opponents, prevents non-government organizations that provide abortions, give counseling about abortions, or advocate for safe access to abortion from receiving US funding.

Continued: https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/30/world/biden-abortion-mexico-city-policy-intl/index.html

Biden to drop Trump’s antiabortion ‘global gag rule.’ Here’s what that means for abortion access worldwide.

By Miriam Berger
Jan. 28, 2021

Soon after he took office, President Donald Trump reinstated and expanded a policy known by its critics as the “global gag rule,” which bars U.S. funding for organizations abroad that perform abortions — or offer information about them.

On Thursday, a week into his presidency, Biden is expected to issue an executive order rescinding the policy.

Continued: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/01/28/biden-trump-abortion-global-gag-rule-faq/

The Biden Administration Is Repealing the Global Gag Rule. That’s Not Enough.

The chilling effect doesn’t go away just because a Democrat is in office.

By JOSHUA KEATING
JAN 28, 2021

On Thursday, Joe Biden is expected to participate in what’s become a regular post-inauguration ritual for U.S. presidents by signing an executive order repealing the Mexico City Policy, known by its opponents as the global gag rule, which prohibits U.S. funding to foreign nongovernmental organizations that provide abortion counseling or referrals. The policy is a textbook case of how the lives of people thousands of miles away can be directly affected by America’s culture wars. And while Biden’s move will be applauded by reproductive rights advocates and family planning service providers around the world, the uncertainty and instability the rule introduced will be hard to erase.

Continued: https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2021/01/biden-global-gag-rule-mexico-city-policy.html

House Democrats move to permanently restore funding for abortion access abroad

By Laura Kelly
07/06/20

House Democrats are working to repeal restrictions imposed by the Trump administration that block U.S. foreign aid from helping fund programs that provide women access to an abortion as part of a $66 billion spending bill.

The proposal, part of the House Appropriations Committee's annual State and Foreign Operations bill, would permanently repeal the Trump administration’s “Global Gag Rule,” also known as the Mexico City Policy, that prevents any U.S. funding from going to any international organization that acknowledges abortion as a possible treatment.

Continued: https://thehill.com/policy/international/506028-house-democrats-move-to-permanently-restore-funding-for-abortion-access

KENYA – The global gag rule on abortion and reproductive health care must be repealed

The global gag rule on abortion and reproductive health care must be repealed

By Ami Bera and Melvine Ouyo, Special to The Sacramento Bee
February 19, 2020

Last month marked three years since President Donald Trump reinstated and expanded the Global Gag Rule, jeopardizing life-saving global health programs and making it even harder for people in developing countries to access crucial reproductive health care – care that we know saves lives.

Under this abhorrent policy, health care providers are barred from receiving desperately-needed financial assistance if they offer abortion-related services or counseling – even if they offer those services with non-U.S. funds.

Continued: https://www.sacbee.com/opinion/op-ed/article240397506.html

19.02.2020

Featured

Opinion

Ami Bera

Family Health Options Kenya

USA – I’ve witnessed the devastating effects of Trump’s global gag rule. Congress must act.

I’ve witnessed the devastating effects of Trump’s global gag rule. Congress must act.

By Melvine P. Ouyo
February 8, 2019

First, do no harm.

It’s a principle that has stood the test of thousands of years of practicing medicine. A principle that transcends politics and partisanship and cuts to the core of what medical providers do every day: provide. Help people.

Continued; https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/02/08/ive-witnessed-devastating-effects-trumps-global-gag-rule-congress-must-act/?utm_term=.01b4c98e682c