U.S. Gag Rule Expansion Will Constrain Women's Rights Worldwide

[BeckyDem]

April 26, 2019


The Trump administration's global gag rule will not only stop abortion funding, but will bar organizations worldwide from offering comprehensive reproductive health services


Excerpt: SHARMINI PERIES Right. And what is your estimate of the impact that this is going to have, this expansion is going to have, on the organizations that are providing these kinds of services?

JONATHAN RUCKS So the first expansion is when the Trump administration first took office and they expanded this policy to cover all U.S. global health assistance. This most recent expansion, I think it’s much harder for us to quantify that number. We know the number of U.S. global health assistance that’s appropriated annually. That’s about $9 billion. The second expansion that the administration announced at the end of March, now targets all of the other donors around the world. So other country governments, like the government of Canada or the United Kingdom, private foundations like the Gates Foundation, for example— all of this funding is now directly impacted by the global gag rule.

SHARMINI PERIES Now where they, as words cross so to speak in terms of this issue, is that some of this funding that is provided goes into maternal health and well-being of mothers, as well. Now how do organizations, particularly the ones you study, make that separation? Once you provide health— if let’s say you’re not carrying a healthy child and you want to terminate it by having an abortion, it appears that all of these services are going to be cut. It’s these specific services. How do you separate the two, is the question?

JONATHAN RUCKS You can’t separate them out. To comply with the global gag rule and to receive U.S. global health assistance, this is the commitment that you make, that you’re not going to provide comprehensive services, even if that goes against the mission statement of your organization. It’s a disastrous policy that is infiltrating and undermining health systems around the world and denying women and girls the ability to get services that they need.

SHARMINI PERIES And Jonathan, tell us about how you actually gathered the data and the information that is contained in your report and the analysis.

JONATHAN RUCKS P.A.I. has a long history of documenting the impact of this policy. We have been out now meeting with partners in a number of countries around the world— countries from Kenya to Uganda, to Nepal, to India— really trying to figure out how is this policy playing out. And it is touching every organization that we speak with. Every organization, whether they comply with the policy or not, are having to grapple with the impacts of this policy and figuring out, how do you now continue services and minimize the impact to individuals on the ground?

https://therealnews.com/stories/u-s-gag-rule-expansion-will-constrain-womens-rights-worldwide

[guillaumeb]

1. And that is their intent.

To deny women the right to make their own decisions about their own bodies.