Population Connection Action Fund is one of more than 100 organizations around the world that have added their name to a statement1 opposing the expected reinstatement of the devastating Mexico City Policy, aka Global Gag Rule, within days of the new administration taking office.
The Global Gag Rule blocks foreign NGOs from receiving U.S. aid if they provide abortion services, referrals, or counseling, or if they advocate for more liberal abortion laws in their own countries, even if they use their own funds to do so. Under the previous Trump administration, the Global Gag Rule saw its most extreme implementation, affecting the entirety of U.S. global health assistance.
MSI Reproductive Choices, one of the groups that lost USAID funding under Trump’s expanded Global Gag Rule, estimates that 8 million women weren’t able to access services as a result, causing around 6 million additional unintended pregnancies, 1.8 million unsafe abortions, and 20,000 maternal deaths.
Population Connection Action Fund Senior Vice President for Governmental and Political Affairs, Brian Dixon, says,
“Access to reproductive health care and family planning is essential to a woman’s health, autonomy and economic security. And U.S. investment in these programs around the world brings enormous benefits in terms of public health, economic development, poverty alleviation and political stability.
“The Global Gag Rule devastates access to reproductive health care in some of the poorest and most marginalized places in the world. Under the guise of being an effort to reduce abortion overseas, it does the opposite — in fact, abortion rates in countries most affected by the Global Gag Rule rise dramatically2 when the policy is in place, as it has been under every Republican president since 1984. Tragically, most of these abortions are unsafe, leading to illness, injury, and even death. This policy has been undermining global reproductive health for decades and has denied hundreds of millions of people – mostly women and girls – access to the care they need. It is both cruel and stupid.
“Congress must pass the Global Health, Empowerment and Rights (HER) Act3 to repeal the Global Gag Rule for good.”
Contact: Olivia Nater, Communications Manager, onater@popconnect.org | +1 202-974-7739
Population Connection Action Fund supports the mission of Population Connection to educate the American people and advocate progressive action to stabilize world population at a level that can be sustained by Earth’s resources. Our grassroots supporters are deeply invested in supporting voluntary, rights-based family planning programs both domestically and globally. Our goal is to turn that passion into real political progress.
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NOTES FOR EDITORS:
1) The Global Gag Rule opposition statement is an initiative of the International Family Planning Coalition (IFPC), a group of U.S.-based organizations working to advance sexual and reproductive health and rights around the world. The statement and a list of signatories is available here, and the statement is also featured in full below:
We come together as international civil society organizations spanning a range of sectors and geographies to oppose the global gag rule (also known as the Mexico City Policy) and call for a permanent end to this harmful policy. This policy prohibits U.S. assistance for critical global challenges to certain organizations if they provide, counsel, refer, or advocate for legal abortion services in their own country, even if these activities are protected by local law, despite being supported solely with non-U.S. funds. Since 1984, the policy has come and gone with changes in the U.S. presidency, leaving the health and lives of millions of people vulnerable to political whims.
As a result of this policy, lifesaving health services have been dismantled in communities around the world, many of which already face systematic barriers to care. Clinics have been forced to close, outreach efforts to underserved populations have been eliminated, and people have lost access to contraception and many other essential health services, resulting in more unintended pregnancies, more unsafe abortions, and more deaths. Implementing organizations who comply with the global gag rule face costly, risky, intensive administrative burdens that limit efficient program implementation and partner cooperation.
When in effect, the global gag rule restricts the medical information that health care providers can offer, limits free speech, and stifles local advocacy efforts by prohibiting people from participating in public policy debates. Numerous research studies over the course of decades and the direct experiences of organizations working in diverse settings demonstrate that the global gag rule impedes access to a range of health services — including reproductive, maternal and child health care, HIV prevention and treatment, tuberculosis, malaria and even some nutrition programs — by cutting off funding for experienced providers.
Even when the global gag rule is rescinded, the policy’s chilling effect persists due to fear that it will be reinstated by a future U.S. president. Even when presidents lift the global gag rule immediately upon taking office, high-quality health partners face long delays in resuming participation in U.S. global health programs. Permanent repeal of the policy is urgently needed to promote sustainable progress in global health and to build and maintain long-term partnerships between the U.S. government, local organizations, and the communities that they serve. We must end this destructive cycle of widespread fear and confusion that disrupts local advocacy efforts and long-standing partnerships, and undercuts the vital work of organizations on the ground. Ending the global gag rule for good would lift the threat of reinstatement and allow U.S.-funded programs to reach their full potential, thus ensuring that the needs and rights of people around the world are fulfilled.
We are in solidarity with those opposing the global gag rule and those harmed by it. Together, we call for urgent action to end this policy once and for all and to advance health, human rights, and gender equality across the globe.
2) A 2019 study published in The Lancet found a 40% increase in abortion rates while the Global Gag Rule was in effect in countries highly exposed to the policy. The paper by Brooks et al., “USA aid policy and induced abortion in sub-Saharan Africa: an analysis of the Mexico City Policy,” is available here.
3) The Global HER Act (H.R.1838 / S.1098) would amend the Foreign Assistance Act so that no future president could unilaterally impose the Global Gag Rule, in effect permanently repealing it. It has been introduced three times in both the House of Representatives and in the Senate but has never received a vote. New versions of both bills will be introduced immediately following the reimposition of the Global Gag Rule.
