Senator Jeanne Shaheen is challenging U.S. President Donald Trump’s “global gag rule” in Congress with the Global Health, Empowerment and Rights (HER) Act, which seeks to permanently repeal the order, as NGOs and activists warn of the severe impact of the rule.
The bill, introduced in January by Shaheen, a democratic senator from New Hampshire, and Democratic Rep. Nita Lowey from New York, has garnered bipartisan support, including from Republican Senators Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski.
If passed, it would guarantee that organizations providing family planning services abroad are eligible to receive U.S. government funding regardless of any health or medical services they offer using non-U.S. funds, including abortion, so long as those services are legal in the country in which they are provided and would not violate federal law if they were provided in the U.S.
About the author
Sophie Edwards
Sophie Edwards is a Devex Contributing Reporter covering global education, water and sanitation, and innovative financing, along with other topics. She has previously worked for NGOs, and the World Bank, and spent a number of years as a journalist for a regional newspaper in the U.K. She has a master's degree from the Institute of Development Studies and a bachelor's from Cambridge University.
