Other Countries Aim to Fill Aid Shortfall Caused by Reinstated Mexico City Policy Camila Domonoske - NPR.org
go to original February 10, 2017

SHE DECIDES: Global Funding Initiative - message of Minister Ploumen (ministerieBZ)

After President Trump blocked U.S. aid money from supporting any group that provides or "promotes" abortion in other countries, The Netherlands announced it would launch a fundraising initiative to support any affected organizations.

Now, several other countries — including Sweden, Finland, Belgium and Canada — have signaled their participation.

The "She Decides" fundraiser is the latest development in an international aid dispute that — as NPR's Nurith Aizenman explained — has been playing out for decades. It centers on the "Mexico City policy," which blocks U.S. aid from being sent to any international group that provides or "promotes" abortion. That can include providing information about abortion.

Since 1973, the U.S. hasn't allowed international aid money to directly fund abortions. The only question has been if groups can receive funds for other initiatives. And that has depended on who is in office — Republican presidents enforced the Mexico City policy, while Democratic presidents didn't.

When Trump entered office one of his first actions was to bring back the policy. As Nurith wrote last month, he also appeared to expand it: Previous versions of the policy only stopped family planning aid from being distributed to affected charities, while Trump's memorandum seems to apply to all global health funding.

Nurith wrote that it's far from clear exactly how much money is potentially affected. The U.S. spends more than $600 million specifically on reproductive health, but spends much more — billions of dollars — on global health overall.

"It remains to be seen how much of that goes to groups that currently provide or promote abortion as defined by the policy — and that would opt to give up U.S. aid dollars rather than falling in line," Nurith wrote.

Read the rest at NPR.org

Related: 'There Will Be More Deaths': NGOs on Trump's Anti-Abortion Rule (The Guardian)

Related: Anti-Planned Parenthood Rallies, Counter-Protests to be Held Across America (Newsweek)

Related: Trump’s Mexico City Policy Threatens Reproductive Rights of Global Poor (The Life You Can Save)

We invite you to add your charity or supporting organizations' news stories and coming events to PVAngels so we can share them with the world. Do it now!