President Trump has just reinstated the global gag rule, a harmful policy that will have devastating consequences on global women’s health. As a supporter of global health and development, women’s rights, gender equality, and free speech, the AHA joins over 130 groups from a variety of sectors to oppose this policy and reject efforts to undermine the health and rights of women around the world.
Read the letter below or download a PDF version.
Coalition Statement Opposing the Global Gag Rule 2017
We join together as diverse voices from a variety of sectors to oppose the harmful global gag rule, also known as the Mexico City Policy. While the Helms Amendment restricts U.S. foreign assistance funding for abortions “as a method of family planning,” the global gag rule goes a step further by blocking aid to foreign organizations who use their own non-U.S. funds to provide information, referrals, or services for legal abortion or to advocate for access to abortion services in their own country.
The global gag rule causes serious harm in countries around the world. The policy interferes with the doctor-patient relationship by restricting medical information healthcare providers may offer, limits free speech by prohibiting local citizens from participating in public policy debates, and impedes women’s access to family planning by cutting off funding for many of the most experienced health care providers who chose to prioritize quality reproductive-health services and counseling over funding that restricts care and censors information.
When in place, the negative impacts of the global gag rule have been broad and severe: health services have been dismantled in a number of communities; clinics that provided a range of reproductive, maternal, and child health care, including HIV testing and counseling, were forced to close; outreach efforts to hard to reach populations were eliminated; and access to contraceptives was severely limited, resulting in more unintended pregnancies and more unsafe abortions. Here is the testimony of one organization that experienced the impact of the global gag rule:
“After refusing the terms of the gag rule in 2001, at Family Health Options Kenya we lost a significant amount of funding from USAID with serious and damaging effects on our ability to provide crucial reproductive health and family planning services. We were forced to close six clinics, all of which provided critical services to poor and underserved populations in urban, peri-urban and rural areas including family planning, voluntary counseling and testing for HIV, management of sexually transmitted infections, post-abortion care and maternal and child health services. Following the closure of these clinics in 2005, at least 9,000 people – primarily women and children – were left with little or no access to health care.” – FHOK, 2013
Countries around the world are making significant progress in improving women’s health and the global gag rule undermines that momentum. Developing and donor countries alike are stepping up to prioritize and make tangible headway in closing the gap on access to modern family planning through increased funding and better policies. This momentum, which includes global partnerships like Family Planning 2020, builds on the essential foundation of U.S. investments in this sector. The global gag rule seriously hinders the effectiveness of U.S. global health investments and the growing global progress that we, as a global community, have made in expanding access to family planning for couples worldwide and in reducing maternal mortality.
The U.S. has been a leader when it comes to promoting democracy, women’s health, and human rights around the world. U.S. foreign aid should never be used as a tool to limit women’s access to health care or to censor free speech. Organizations should not be disqualified from receiving U.S. assistance because they use their own funds to provide health services and information that are legal in their home country and legal in the U.S. Supporters of global health and development, women’s rights, gender equality, and free speech oppose the harmful global gag rule and reject efforts to undermine the health and rights of women around the world.
Endorsing Organizations:
30 for 30 Campaign
Advocates for Youth
AFL-CIO
AIDS Foundation of Chicago
AIDS United
Alliance to End Slavery & Trafficking
American Academy of Pediatrics
American Association of University Women (AAUW)
American Civil Liberties Union
American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists
American Humanist Association
American Jewish World Service
American Medical Student Association
Americans United for Separation of Church and State
amfAR (The Foundation for AIDS Research)
Amnesty International USA
Anti-Defamation League
Association of Reproductive Health Professionals
AVAC
Black Women’s Health Imperative
Breakthrough
carafem
CARE USA
Catholics for Choice
Center for Biological Diversity
Center for Health and Gender Equity (CHANGE)
Center for Inquiry
Center for Reproductive Rights
Center for Women Policy Studies
Colorado Organization for Latina Opportunity and Reproductive Rights (COLOR)
Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health
Consortium of Universities for Global Health
Council for Global Equality
CREDO
Disciple Public Witness; Disciples of Christ
Disciples for Choice
Disciples Justice Action Network
DKT International
Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation
EngenderHealth
Everywoman Everywhere
Feminist Majority
FP2020
Freedom From Religion Foundation
Global Doctors for Choice
Global Health Council
Global Initiatives for Human Rights (GIHR)
Global Justice Clinic, NYU School of Law
Global Justice Institute, Metropolitan Community Churches
Global Progressive Hub
Gynuity Health Projects
Hadassah, The Women’s Zionist Organization of America, Inc.
Health GAP
Healthy Teen Network
HIV Medicine Association
Human Rights Campaign
Human Rights Watch
Ibis Reproductive Health
If/When/How: Lawyering for Reproductive Justice
In Our Own Voice: National Black Women’s Reproductive Justice Agenda
Ipas
Institute for Science and Human Values
International Center for Research on Women
International Medical Corps
International Planned Parenthood Federation
International Planned Parenthood Federation/Western Hemisphere Region
International Women’s Health Coalition
IntraHealth International
John Snow, Inc.
JWI
Lutheran Women’s Caucus
Management Sciences for Health
Marie Stopes International-US
Medical Students for Choice
Methodist Federation for Social Action
NARAL Pro-Choice America
National Abortion Federation
National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum (NAPAWF)
National Center for Lesbian Rights
National Center for Transgender Equality
National Council of Jewish Women
National Family Planning & Reproductive Health Association
National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health
National LGBTQ Task Force
National Network of Abortion Funds
National Organization for Women
National Partnership for Women & Families
National Women’s Health Network
National Women’s Law Center
Norwegian Refugee Council USA
Outright Action International
PAI
Partners for Development
PATH
Pathfinder International
People For The American Way
Physicians for Reproductive Health
Planned Parenthood Federation of America
Population Connection Action Fund
Population Council
Population Institute
Population Media Center
Population Reference Bureau
Positive Women’s Network – USA
PSI
Public Health Institute
Religious Institute
Reproaction
Reproductive Health Technologies Project
Republican Majority for Choice
Save the Children
Secular Coalition for America
Secular Student Alliance
Sexuality Information and Education Council of the U. S. (SIECUS)
Sierra Club
SisterLove, Inc.
Society for Humanistic Judaism
Student Global AIDS Campaign
The Global Forum on MSM & HIV (MSMGF)
The Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice
Treatment Action Group
UltraViolet
Union for Reform Judaism
Unitarian Universalist Association
Unitarian Universalist Women’s Federation
United Methodist General Board of Church & Society
URGE: Unite for Reproductive & Gender Equity
UU Humanist Association
Voices for Progress
WaterAid
White Ribbon Alliance
WIN (Women’s Information Network)
Women at the Center
Women Deliver
Women of Reform Judaism
Women’s Refugee Commission
Women’s Research & Education Institute
Women Thrive Alliance