Congressional Leaders Try to Reinstate Global Gag Rule

by Danielle Zielinski · April 09, 2011

 

With just hours left to negotiate a budget deal and avert a government shutdown, U.S. Republican leaders are putting ideology first - insisting on policy riders that threaten the health of poor women and their families worldwide.
Not content with trying to deny funding for Planned Parenthood, they are taking their war on women global by trying to reinstate the Global Gag Rule.
The Global Gag Rule, formally known as the Mexico City Policy,  denies foreign organizations receiving U.S. family planning assistance the right to use their own non-U.S. funds to provide information, referrals or services for legal abortion or advocate for it. The Gag Rule was first imposed by the Reagan administration in 1984. It was rescinded in 1993 by President Clinton, reinstated in 2001 by President Bush, and most recently repealed by President Obama on his fourth day in office.
The destructive legacy of the Gag Rule during the Bush administration speaks for itself. In more than 1,300 communities in Ghana, women faced reduced access to contraception. In Kenya, eight reproductive health clinics had to close their doors entirely. And in Nepal, 60 health workers from the organization responsible for the vast majority of family planning services delivered by non-governmental groups were laid off, leaving clinics without a full-time doctor.
Reinstating a policy that hurts women's access to basic contraception would only worsen a dire situation in many of these countries. There are already at least 215 million women in developing countries who would like to avoid pregnancy, but do not have access to contraceptives. Hamstringing international family planning programs prevents us from meeting the needs of these women. It also undermines efforts to lower maternal mortality rates, reduce unintended pregnancies and abortions, and improve the health and lives of women and their communities.
The policy riders that Republican leaders are pushing for in the spending deal would not reduce the deficit one cent. They would only harm life-saving, cost-effective family planning programs that have the support of the vast majority of Americans, including conservatives and independents.
Now is the time to stand up for women and families -- support strong and effective funding for international family planning and reject any efforts to reinstate the Global Gag Rule.
Photo: Medill DC
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