Trump’s reimposition of the Global Gag Rule denies many vital reproductive healthcare

Critics say the policy has led to deep cuts in funding for family planning

By Kelly Blanchard & Evelyn Opondo
Feb 17, 2025

On 24 January, US President Donald Trump issued guidance to reinstate the Global Gag Rule (GGR). This policy will lead to harm and human rights violations for women, girls and people of all genders worldwide, affecting their sexual and reproductive rights and well-being.

The GGR, formally known as Mexico City Policy or the Protecting Life in Global Health Assistance policy, originally put in place by former president Ronald Reagan and expanded under the first Trump administration, says organisations that receive US funding may not provide information about abortion or abortion care. Non-US based NGOs are ineligible for US government global health funding if they use their own funds to provide, refer for or promote access to abortion.

Continued: https://mg.co.za/thought-leader/2025-02-17-trumps-reimposition-of-the-global-gag-rule-denies-many-vital-reproductive-healthcare/

Kenya – Evelyne Opondo is championing change

Sunday, September 08, 2024
By Wanja Mbuthia, Nation Media Group

Talking with the soft-spoken Evelyne Opondo feels like chatting with a big sister in many ways. She’s warm and laughs easily. She is a great listener too, who thinks through every question before answering and projects an air of a trustworthy and dependable person. A lawyer, Ms Opondo is the Africa Director at the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW), where she leads the organisation’s strategies and mission in Africa. Seated at an eatery in Nairobi’s Kileleshwa area, she reflects on the challenges, accomplishments, and lessons she has gathered from over two decades of advocating for the rights of women and girls.

Continued: https://nation.africa/kenya/life-and-style/evelyne-opondo-is-championing-change--4752200

08.09.2024

Commentary

Interviews/Podcasts

Centre for Reproductive Rights

Evelyne Opondo

International Center for Research on Women

How a Trump win could hurt abortion access around the world

Countries from Ethiopia to Nepal felt the pinch on reproductive health during Trump's first term. What would a second bring?

David Sherfinski
May 30, 2024

RICHMOND, Virginia - This year's election between President Joe Biden and his Republican opponent Donald Trump threatens to upend abortion access and reproductive health services far beyond the United States.

Anti-abortion advocates are already drawing up plans for Trump to reinstate and expand funding restrictions on overseas groups that critics say disrupted reproductive health services like access to contraception in countries from Kenya to Nepal during the former president's four-year term.

Continued: https://www.context.news/money-power-people/how-a-trump-win-could-hurt-abortion-access-around-the-world

Abortions are legal in much of Africa. But few women may be aware, and providers don’t advertise it

By Maria Cheng And Misper Apawu, The Associated Press
Tuesday, April 2, 2024

ACCRA, Ghana (AP) — When Efua, a 25-year-old fashion designer and single mother in Ghana, became pregnant last year, she sought an abortion at a health clinic but worried the procedure might be illegal. Health workers assured her abortions were lawful under certain conditions in the West African country, but Efua said she was still nervous.

“I had lots of questions, just to be sure I would be safe,” Efua told the Associated Press, on condition that only her middle name be used, for fear of reprisals from the growing anti-abortion movement in her country.

Continued: https://www.thestar.com/news/world/africa/abortions-are-legal-in-much-of-africa-but-few-women-may-be-aware-and-providers/article_24b7ad8d-aa20-5134-aa5f-a381fc7ea56c.html

Women’s charities sound alarm as aid cuts hit equality spending

Millions of women and girls in poorer nations could be put at risk of unsafe abortion, domestic violence or teen pregnancy, experts say.

Thomson Reuters Foundation

Aug. 22, 2023

Aid cuts could put more women and girls at risk of domestic violence, unsafe abortions and dropping out of school as rich nations’ spending to fight gender inequality stagnates for the first time in a decade, charities and policy experts say.

Countries such as Britain, the Netherlands and Japan pledged less money to tackle gender violence in 2020/21, and committed a smaller share of total aid to gender equality programmes for the first time since 2010, a new report by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) shows.

Continued: https://www.eco-business.com/news/womens-charities-sound-alarm-as-aid-cuts-hit-equality-spending/

22.08.2023

News

Feminist Foreign Policy Collaborative

Foteini Papagioti

International Center for Research on Women

International Planned Parenthood Federation

Lyric Thompson

Monica Ferro

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development

UNFPA

UNFPA Supplies Partnership

U.S. Overturn of Roe Will Embolden Anti-Abortion Movements Abroad

11/29/2022
by MICHELLE ONELLO

The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which ruled that there is no U.S. constitutional right to abortion, will have ripple effects around the world, according to the International Center for Research on Women’s (ICRW) policy brief, “U.S. Foreign Policy Implications of Overturning Roe v. Wade.” While Dobbs did not change existing U.S. foreign policy regarding abortion, the brief argues that it will embolden anti-abortion movements abroad, contribute to global stigmatization of abortion, cause confusion for policy implementation and open the door for new restrictions—all of which will negatively impact the health, economic resources and well-being of women throughout the world.

Dobbs is a reminder that current U.S. foreign aid restrictions “are not aligned with best health care practices nor consistent with human rights and bodily autonomy principles.”

Continued: https://msmagazine.com/2022/11/29/us-overturn-roe-v-wade-abortion-abroad-foreign-policy-helms-amendment-global-gag-rule/

‘There will be more deaths’: NGOs on Trump’s anti-abortion rule

'There will be more deaths': NGOs on Trump's anti-abortion rule

We asked NGOs how the reinstatement of the ‘global gag’ rule will impact what they do, and the people they work with. Here are some of the responses.

Katherine Purvis and Guardian readers

Thursday 9 February 2017

Three days after his inauguration, Donald Trump reinstated the “global gag” rule, which prohibits the use of US aid money for abortions, prevents NGOs from using private funds for abortion services, from referring women to groups that provide abortions, and even from offering information on services.

We asked NGOs around the world to tell us how the policy impacted them in the past, and what it means for their work today.
Continued at source: The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-network/2017/feb/09/trumps-global-gag-abortion-women-health-ngos