I don't usually do diaries, but this article caught my eye and I didn't see it posted and I didn't see it in the tag search I did. I'll be up for a couple of hours, if someone else has diaried this, please let me know and I'll delete.
In Monday's Guardian, Sarah Boseley writes that Britain, for the sake of women's lives, is about to break Bush's "global gag" on abortion information. All I can say is, "It's about damned time!"
More on the flip.
(emphasis in blockquotes is mine)
I'm sure you're all familiar with this disgrace, but, if you're not:
The "global gag" rule, as it has become known, was imposed by President George Bush in 2001. It requires any organisation applying for US funds to sign an undertaking not to counsel women on abortion - other than advising against it - or provide abortion services.
How's that "Abstenance Only Program" working out George?
Nearly 70,000 women and girls died last year because they went to back-street abortionists. Hundreds of thousands of others suffered serious injuries.
That's right a mere 70,000 of the poorest, most oppressed women and girls in the world died because they had no other choice, but to seek out back-alley butchers to terminate their pregnancies. How many of those "hundreds of thousands" of the seriously injured will never be able to get pregnant again, because of what was done to them in that most vulnerable and desperate of situations? Yes, George and the Dobsons of the world are so concerned with bringing democracy and christianity to every living being on earth, that their are willing to break the most basic tenets of both. They have denied the people of these countries their freedom speech and have put conditions on their own tything to those desolate countries. I'm sure our founding fathers and Jesus would be so proud. [Update: 2/8/06: I couldn't get that number, 70,000 out of my mind and had to pull up the calculator. That number works out to about 192 women that have died per day for the last year. 192 women per day. Thanks to leberquesgue for the correction on the numbers. ]
Thank god, someone has seen the folly with this type of coersion.
The UK will today become the founder donor of a fund set up specifically to attempt to replace the lost dollars and increase safe abortion services.
The Department for International Development will contribute £3m over two years. DFID and the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) - whose clinics across the world have suffered badly - hope that others, particularly the Scandinavians, Dutch and Canadians, will be emboldened to put money in too.
"I think the UK is being very brave and very progressive in making this commitment," said Steven Sinding, director general of the IPPF. "We're deeply grateful for this gesture not only financially but also politically.
Sad to think it is a brave move to defy the US on this issue. Sad to think it took 70,000 deaths, before someone finally said enough is enough. The saddest part is that some of those women might not have died, if the clinics who have been denied monies, were able to buy and supply contraceptives to their patients, many of them could have been saved and given some control over their lives and bodies.
"Tens of thousands of women who depend on our services are not able to get them. We're committed to the expansion of safe abortion because in any society no matter how efficiently contraception is made available there will be unplanned and unwanted pregnancies."
The "global gag", he said, had increased the number of unsafe abortions by stopping funding to clinics that primarily provide contraception. "What I've never been able to figure out about American policy is why they persist in cutting down funding to organisations that are about preventing unwanted pregnancies."
Yes, well, that's what alot of us have never understood about the BushCo/Religious Wingnut party's logic, or lack there of, on this subject. Nor do they have any real plan for all the babies that might be born to those they are trying to convince not to have an abortion. The "faith based" organizations on the take from Congress will offer assistance, but the caveats are often nothing short of bribery.
Britain's solution:
The money from the new fund will be equitably shared among all those who have lost US funds.
Although it's taken 5 years for this to happen, I'll raise a glass and say, "Cheers," to the Brits for their reversal on this. I wonder if they'll take donations from individuals?
[UPDATE A controversy arose about the wording of the first quote I pulled from the Guardian article. If I understand the problem, a poster requested I provide a link to the specifics of the Mexico City Policy, commonly known as the "global gag" rule, because they did not believe the assertion made that no organization will receive US federal funds, if they disseminate information about or provide abortion services. Let me say that the rule applies to non-governmental organizations outside the United States. I'm sorry if I have mislead anyone by not clarifying that part of the rule on my own. I have diligently searched for the exact wording of the Mexico City Policy, but after more than an hour of clicking through many, many pages information, I was unable to find it. However, I was able to find a reference to the policy and its requirements and have posted it HERE. I'm hoping this will answer the posters question. If not, I am at a loss as to how to resolve this problem for him/her.]