The Ripple Effects of the U.S. Retreat from International Reproductive Care

U.S. cuts to global health funding are putting reproductive rights, healthcare access and human rights at risk worldwide. Human rights experts discuss exactly what’s happening—and what would stop the suffering.

10/19/2025
by Jaime M. Gher, Payal Shah and Floriane Borel

The U.S. has long been the largest donor to global health programs, but under the Trump administration, that support is rapidly disappearing. The resulting funding cuts are devastating reproductive health access, disease prevention efforts and human rights around the world.

In this Q&A, global health and human rights experts Jaime M. Gher, Payal Shah and Floriane Borel break down the global ripple effects—and the urgent need for action.

Continued: https://msmagazine.com/2025/10/19/usa-trump-international-global-health-aid-cuts/

Dangerous Pregnancy: Unsafe Abortion a Problem for Liberian Teens

Wade Williams, FrontPage Africa
Oct 10, 2025

Monrovia – Pale and weak, Pauline Kule was rushed to the James N. Davis Memorial hospital in July because she had been bleeding profusely. The 19-year-old swallowed 15 pills hoping to get rid of an unwanted pregnancy.

A ninth-grade student, Kule says she was afraid her father would withdraw his financial support if he found out she was pregnant. She says she is not yet ready to be a mother. “I’m a student. When my father gets to know I’m pregnant, he will not sponsor me in school again,” she says.

Continued: https://newnarratives.org/stories/dangerous-pregnancy-unsafe-abortion-a-problem-for-liberian-teens/

10.10.2025

News

Dr. Celia Kohn

Dr. Torsu Y. Jallabah

Joseph Coleman

Liberia Medical and Dental Association

United Nations Population Fund

Pakistan – Autonomy to plan

By Dr Hadia Aziz
September 26, 2025

Two years ago, in a government healthcare setting at the periphery, I encountered a 29-year-old mother of three who had been driven to a life-threatening, unsafe abortion by an untrained practitioner because she had no access to contraception.

Her story is not an anomaly in Pakistan. It is a chilling microcosm of a far wider national crisis. Her tragic experience highlights a fundamental failure of our state and society to safeguard the most basic right of its women: bodily autonomy.

Continued: https://www.thenews.com.pk/latest/1346380-autonomy-to-plan

26.09.2025

Commentary

Dr Hadia Aziz

Pakistan Demographic and Health Survey

United Nations Population Fund

World Contraception Day

Global Trends in Opposition to Women’s Reproductive Autonomy

10 September 2025
International Confederation of Midwives

Sexual and reproductive health and rights are increasingly under threat. The Trump Administration in the United States has restricted dialogue about and access to contraception and safe abortion causing a global ripple effect. A troubling trend is emerging: other governments and international organisations are following suit by limiting funding and avoiding the language of reproductive rights.

Defunding SRHR – Global Impact and Consequences
The Trump Administration has overseen the dismantling of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), withdrawn 500 million USD in global health funding, and terminated all US contributions to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the UN agency for sexual and reproductive health. The result is the destabilisation of global sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) initiatives, undermining progress toward gender equality, jeopardising the 2030 Agenda for achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Continued: https://internationalmidwives.org/global-trends-in-opposition-to-womens-reproductive-autonomy/

When the Law Limits Choice: Nigeria’s Policies are Undermining Sexual Justice

Nigeria Health Watch, Zubaida Baba Ibrahim
Sep 6, 2025

Every law is meant to protect, but what happens when the same laws deny people the right to have autonomy over their bodies? In Nigeria and across the world, sexual and reproductive health policies must be adapted to the realities that women and girls face today, otherwise, what should serve as a protective shield is turned into a barrier to bodily autonomy.

A clear example of this is Nigeria’s abortion laws, which remain restrictive, permitting termination only to save a woman’s life. Under the Criminal Code, applicable in southern states, and the Penal Code, applicable in northern states, both women and providers face severe penalties with up to 14 years’ imprisonment for providers and seven years for women who undergo the procedure.

Continued: https://nigeriahealthwatch.medium.com/when-the-law-limits-choice-nigerias-policies-are-undermining-sexual-justice-8604f7743ee8

06.09.2025

Commentary

2025 World Sexual Health Day

child marriage

female genital mutilation

gender-based violence

Guttmacher Institute

maternal mortality

United Nations Population Fund

Setting fire to women’s health

The Trump administration would rather burn contraceptives than help women and girls in developing nations.

Jennifer Weiss-Wolf
Aug 13, 2025

According to congressional Republicans and President Donald Trump, the “big, beautiful bill” is all about eliminating fiscal waste and preventing fraud. Yet the State Department is poised to burn millions of dollars—quite literally, in a French incinerator—paying $167,000 to set ablaze a $9.7 million stockpile of U.S. taxpayer-funded contraceptives.

For the past few weeks, global reporting has revealed a collection of IUDs, birth control pills, and implants—all viable for usage for several more years—stored in a warehouse in Belgium. Intended for distribution to women around the world—people living in refugee camps, war zones, and under fragile health systems—these supplies were purchased by the U.S. government before the Trump administration’s order freezing foreign aid, shutting down the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and reinstating the Global Gag Rule (a.k.a. the “Mexico City Policy,” which requires foreign non-governmental organizations to certify they will not perform or promote abortion using funding from any source. A damning trifecta, indeed.

Continued; https://contrarian.substack.com/p/setting-fire-to-womens-health

Nigeria – Family planning: Over 6,000 unsafe abortions recorded annually, experts lament

9 August 2025
By Akinnodi Francis, Ondo

A staggering 83 Nigerian women and girls die every year from preventable causes linked to poor access to family planning, experts have warned, as the country faces a deepening contraceptive shortage and massive funding cuts.

Also, every year, an estimated 6,321 Nigerian women undergo unsafe abortions, a grim indicator of the country’s deepening family planning crisis.

Continued; https://www.thehopenewspaper.com/family-planning-over-6000-unsafe-abortions-recorded-annually-experts-lament/

INDONESIA – Need sustainable contraceptive funding for quality families: govt

August 8, 2025

Jakarta (ANTARA) - Population and Family Planning Minister Wihaji has underlined the need for sustainable funding to support contraceptive access and build quality families in Indonesia.

“This is not just about funding, this also pertains to this nation’s (goals). We want to ensure that children are born from families who are ready, healthy, and happy,” the minister said here on Thursday.

During a meeting with the Representative of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) for Indonesia, Hassan Mohtashami, he also drew attention to the need for sustainable funding to protect women’s rights, reduce the maternal mortality rate, and encourage sustainable economic growth.

Continued: https://en.antaranews.com/news/372005/need-sustainable-contraceptive-funding-for-quality-families-govt

08.08.2025

United Nations Population Fund

UK, UNFPA launch Shs3b family planning programme in Uganda

Wednesday, July 23, 2025
By KARIM MUYOBO

Residents of Mukono and Wakiso districts are set to benefit from a Shs3 billion (£785,220) family planning initiative funded by the United Kingdom government in partnership with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).

The nine-month program aims to strengthen Uganda’s healthcare system by delivering effective, efficient, equitable, and sustainable family planning services particularly targeting high-burden and hard-to-reach populations.

Continued: https://www.monitor.co.ug/uganda/news/national/uk-unfpa-launch-shs3b-family-planning-programme-uganda-5128272

23.07.2025

United Nations Population Fund

Time to rethink Uganda’s abortion laws! Ugandans must end silence around abortion

July 21, 2025
Polyne Nabwire

KAMPALA – Discussions about illegal abortions have been dominant on social media, within various social groups, in offices, and among civil society organisations (CSOs) focused on sexual and reproductive health. The conversations were sparked by a story entitled “Merchants of abortion” published by Daily Monitor on July 7, 2025, that gained significant traction online.

For advocates of reproductive health, this situation was a sobering reminder that these issues cannot be ignored. Many CSOs have since held press conferences to address these concerns and discuss how to prevent illegal abortions and the associated unwanted deaths.

However, we should reflect on why, in this day and age of empowerment, we still face such challenges and consider how we can improve the situation moving forward.

Continued: https://pmldaily.com/oped/2025/07/polyne-nabwire-time-to-rethink-ugandas-abortion-laws-ugandans-must-end-silence-around-abortion.html

21.07.2025