How Trump’s New Global Gag Rules Will Undermine US Interests Abroad

by Ari Shaw and Laurel Sprague
March 13, 2026

For four decades, the Mexico City Policy—commonly known as the Global Gag Rule—has been a political ping pong. Republican presidents impose it; Democratic presidents rescind it. The policy blocks U.S. funding to foreign organizations that provide or promote abortion, even if those activities are funded by separate, non-U.S. government sources. Until now, its scope was always limited to reproductive health programs.

On Jan. 27, the Trump administration published three final rules that represent the broadest overt application of ideological conditions on U.S. foreign aid in history, together called the Promoting Human Flourishing in Foreign Assistance policy. This policy conditions about $40 billion dollars in non-military aid—global health programs, humanitarian assistance, refugee services, development funding—on compliance with the administration’s positions on abortion, “gender ideology,” and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programming.

Continued: https://www.justsecurity.org/133353/new-global-gag-rules-undermine-us-interests/

13.03.2026

Commentary

Combating Discriminatory Equity Ideology in Foreign Assistance

Combating Gender Ideology in Foreign Assistance

Global Gag Rule

Mexico City policy

PEPFAR

Promoting Human Flourishing in Foreign Assistance

Protecting Life in Foreign Assistance rule

Teenage Girls Struggle to Access Contraceptives in Public Hospitals Despite Women’s Day focus on Rights

March 8, 2026

Every year on the 8th of March, the world pauses to celebrate women. Flowers are given, speeches are made, and hashtags trend. But for millions of women and girls across Kenya, International Women’s Day is not a celebration it is a reminder of a systemic betrayal.

It is the story of a young mother in Kisumu who walked three hours to a public clinic, only to hear the words: “Hatuna stock” we have no stock. It is the reality of a teenage girl in Mathare who wanted to stay in school but left the clinic empty-handed because the shelf was completely bare.

Continued: https://ghettoradio.co.ke/teenage-girls-struggle-to-access-contraceptives-in-public-hospitals-despite-womens-day-focus-on-rights/

08.03.2026

Commentary

bodily autonomy

Conference on Population and Development

contraception shortage

International Women's Day

Kenya Demographic and Health Survey

‘Lone Star Three’: How Three UT Austin Students Paved the Way for Birth Control Access in 1960s Texas

In the years before Roe v. Wade, three UT Austin students built a quiet network helping women access birth control and abortion care in Texas.

March 5, 2026
by Livia Follet and Ava Slocum

In 1969, Victoria Foe, Judy Smith and Barbara Hines were students at the University of Texas in Austin, when Smith invited Foe and Hines to attend women’s liberation meetings at her house. What began as late-night conversations quickly grew into a campus Birth Control Information Center … and eventually an underground network helping women access abortion at a time when the procedure was illegal in Texas.

Their activism would eventually extend far beyond their university campus, planting the seeds for Roe v. Wade, the landmark Supreme Court decision that would legalize abortion in the U.S. Not until 1965 did the Supreme Court recognize a constitutional right for married couples to use birth control; in 1972, it extended that right to unmarried people as well.

Continued: https://msmagazine.com/2026/03/05/lone-star-three-documentary-roe-v-wade-texas-abortion-birth-control-victoria-foe-judy-smith-barbara-hines/

Nigeria cannot criminalise abortion while cutting contraceptive access

February 23, 2026
Ogechukwu Williams

Nigeria’s reproductive health landscape is facing a dangerous policy contradiction with serious consequences for women’s lives. The country’s 2025 national budget slashed family planning funding by 97 per cent, reducing it from N2.2bn in 2024 to N66.39m, which amounts to 0.0028 per cent of the health budget. Towards the end of 2025, proceedings in the House of Representatives descended into heated debate over a proposed amendment to the Criminal Code on abortion that sought to impose harsher penalties for pregnancy termination.

Taken together, these developments reveal a troubling governance paradox: while the state is dramatically reducing women’s access to contraceptive services that help prevent unintended pregnancies, it is simultaneously seeking to intensify criminal penalties for abortion – often the consequence of those same unintended pregnancies. This policy trajectory undermines women’s health and risks increasing unsafe abortions, maternal health complications, and preventable deaths. It also exposes a broader failure to align Nigeria’s reproductive health policies with its public health realities.

Continued: https://punchng.com/nigeria-cannot-criminalise-abortion-while-cutting-contraceptive-access/?amp

23.02.2026

Commentary

Family Planning Council of Nigeria

maternal deaths

National Council of Women’s Societies

Nigerian Medical Association

Ogechukwu Williams

Society of Gynaecology and Obstetrics of Nigeria

CANADA – Reproductive health advocates still waiting for Holt to keep promise of free birth control

With gender-based violence declared an epidemic, advocates say it’s time for province to fulfill promise

Hope Edmond · CBC News
Feb 03, 2026

Advocates are calling on the New Brunswick government to make good on its pledge to implement universal, no-cost contraception coverage.

Premier Susan Holt promised to make birth control free during her election campaign in 2024 by signing a pharmacare agreement with the federal government.

“We’re disappointed that the Holt government hasn’t signed a pharmacare deal,” said Tracy Glynn, a founder of Reproductive Justice New Brunswick and the national director of projects and operations for the Canadian Health Coalition.

Continued : https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/pharmacare-free-contraceptives-9.7068501

What’s driving the huge rise in abortions?

Britain is experiencing a crisis of motherhood.

Ann Furedi
2nd February 2026

There has been a significant rise in the number of abortions carried out in England and Wales over the past few years. According to government statistics published at the start of the year, abortions increased by 11 per cent in 2023 compared with 2022. This follows on from a 17 per cent increase in abortions in 2022 compared with 2021.

It’s true that abortion numbers have been climbing steadily since the mid-1990s. But it certainly looks as if the numbers have risen sharply in the 2020s. Despite some attempts to play these figures down, this is a hugely significant increase.

Continued; https://www.spiked-online.com/2026/02/02/whats-driving-the-huge-rise-in-abortions/

02.02.2026

Opinion

Ann Furedi

contraception myths

fear of contraception

increase in abortion rates

Why 164 million women have unmet contraceptive needs while methods exist that could save their lives

Shreya Suri
January 27, 2026

Fatima sat across from the community health worker, finally voicing what she’d been afraid to say. “I need to stop having children,” she whispered. “I already have six. My body can’t take another pregnancy. But my husband won’t allow contraception. And even if he did, the nearest clinic is three hours away by bus. I can’t afford the fare.”

The health worker nodded. She hears this story daily in rural Pakistan. Fatima is one of 164 million women of reproductive age worldwide with an unmet need for contraception. They want to prevent or delay pregnancy but aren’t using any contraceptive method.

Continued: https://observervoice.com/contraception-why-164-million-women-have-unmet-contraceptive-needs-while-methods-exist-that-could-save-their-lives-177572/

27.01.2026

Commentary

unmet contraceptive needs

Global

Pakistan

Contraception

MSF condemns sweeping expansion of the Global Gag Rule

The US Government’s new Promoting Human Flourishing in Foreign Assistance policy entrenches discrimination against the world’s most vulnerable.

January 27, 2026

On Friday, the Trump Administration introduced its new Promoting Human Flourishing in Foreign Assistance (PHFFA) policy, which expands the Global Gag Rule to its most extreme version to date and imposes alarming new conditions, in an attempt to reshape US foreign assistance along ideological lines.

The policy intensifies its prohibition on safe abortion care and adds extensive restrictions on other categories of health and rights, including gender-affirming and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) frameworks. These moves directly contradict established medical consensus and evidence-based standards for delivering effective health care and humanitarian assistance.

Continued: https://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/latest/msf-condemns-sweeping-expansion-global-gag-rule

Adding It Up 2024: Investing in Sexual and Reproductive Health in Low- and Middle-Income Countries in Asia

Guttmacher Institute
January 2026

The Adding It Up study examines the need for, impact of and cost of fully investing in sexual and reproductive health (SRH) care—services that ensure people can decide whether and when to have children, experience safe pregnancy and delivery, have healthy newborns, and have a safe and satisfying sexual life.

Access to comprehensive sexual and reproductive health services is recognized as a fundamental human right, essential for achieving gender equality and enabling individuals to make autonomous decisions about their own bodies, health and futures. Realizing this right for all women, especially those facing systemic barriers, upholds human dignity and advances equity across communities.

Continued: https://www.guttmacher.org/fact-sheet/adding-it-up-2024-investing-sexual-and-reproductive-health-asia

26.01.2026

EUROPE -MEP Liese pushes male contraception as abortion prevention

This line of argument could resonate with other conservative groups in the European Parliament opposed to abortion

Thomas Mangin, Euractiv
Jan 12, 2026

German MEP Peter Liese is intensifying his push for male contraception, framing it as a contribution to reducing abortions. The member of the centre-right European People’s Party (EPP) plans to maintain pressure on the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and is considering ways to integrate this issue into the Biotech Act, a recent European Commission proposal.

“I’m a Catholic myself, and I think also the Catholic Church should be very happy if we have male contraception available because it avoids unwanted pregnancies and unwanted pregnancies lead to abortion,” said the German MEP…

Continued: https://www.euractiv.com/news/mep-liese-pushes-male-contraception-as-abortion-prevention/

12.01.2026