The reinstatement and amplification of a Reagan-era anti-abortion rule has some of the world’s largest nongovernmental women’s health care providers considering which of their programs to shutter.
U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday signed an executive order restoring and intensifying the “global gag rule,” an anti-abortion policy that bars any NGO abroad that receives U.S. government funding from performing abortion services — even if it’s legal in that respective country — or giving information about abortions as a means of family planning.
The policy was first signed by President Ronald Reagan in 1984 and has since become a political football struck down by Democrats and reinstated under Republican leadership. But Trump’s Jan. 23 memorandum takes it further, expanding on previous iterations by restricting funding to all organizations that receive global health funding, rather than only family planning providers — potentially including maternal health programs, efforts to fight Zika, and the PEPFAR program to prevent and treat HIV and AIDS. With this addition, global health NGO PAI estimates the rule could impact $9 billion in U.S. funds, 15 times as much funding as it did under President George W. Bush.
About the author
Kelli Rogers@kellierin
Kelli Rogers has worked as an Associate Editor and Southeast Asia Correspondent for Devex, with a particular focus on gender. Prior to that, she reported on social and environmental issues from Nairobi, Kenya. Kelli holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Missouri, and has reported from more than 20 countries.
