Why the Mexico City Policy Will Potentially Harm Women, Girls, Global Community Jennifer Redner and Harry Samuels - World.Mic
go to original February 28, 2017

On his first full day in office, President Trump signed an Executive Order reinstating the Mexico City Policy, also known as the “Global Gag Rule.” The Administration says it’s about stopping abortion funding. Here's what you need to know. (Global Citizen)

Within 48 hours of the historic protest for women’s rights on Jan. 23, President Donald Trump put millions of people around the world at risk with a stroke of his pen. Late last month, he reinstated the "global gag rule," which forbids the U.S. from giving global health assistance to any overseas organization that provides abortions, counsels or refers women to other providers for abortions, or advocates for the liberalization of abortion laws — even when done with nongovernment sources of funding.

Officially called the "Mexico City Policy," the Reagan-era regulation has taken turns being enacted and rescinded since 1984 depending on which party has been in power. But Trump’s version is far more extreme than any enacted in the past. His policy multiplies the effect on U.S. funding fifteenfold and will wreak unprecedented damage on the health and human rights of people around the world, including many vulnerable populations in communities with few resources.



Under previous administrations, the only foreign nongovernmental organizations bound by the global gag rule were those that received family planning funds from the United States. Trump has now expanded the global gag rule to apply to recipients of all U.S. global health dollars. This means that a policy that previously restricted $575 million of foreign aid now implicates the distribution of $9.45 billion annually — including funds addressing nutrition and other public health challenges like HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis.

The newest iteration of this policy shackles U.S. foreign aid to religious and ideological requirements that undermine evidence-based public health interventions and broader human rights. These provisions dictate a narrow view of morality under the guise of public health, doing grave damage to the millions of people who depend on U.S. aid for their health and wellbeing. They also undermine the national interest of the U.S. in promoting healthy, stable and prosperous societies.

Read four reasons the global gag rule will harm women, girls and communities around the world at World.Mic

Related: Governments Step Up for Reproductive Rights: ‘She Decides’ Summit to Counter Trump’s ‘Global Gag Rule’ (Human Rights Watch)

Related: Trump’s Promised Cuts to Foreign Aid Could Hit Some Anti-Drug Programs Hard (McClatchyDC)

Related: A Global Counter-Trump Movement Is Taking Shape (The Wire)

Related: Why Trump Presidency Remains a Risk for Global Order (The Straits Times)

Related: US Considers Quitting UN Human Rights Council (Politico)

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