It was a cold day in January 2001, when George W. Bush reinstated President Regan’s global gag rule, which had been rescinded by President Clinton. Hundreds of thousands of people had protested the rule, knowing the enormous negative impact it had on women. The rule mandates that no U.S. family planning assistance funding can be given to organizations that provide abortion services, offer counseling and referral for abortion care, or advocate legal abortion access in their own countries — even if they do so with their own, non-U.S. funds.
The results have been devastating. Because of the global gag rule, international reproductive health care organizations have faced a dangerous dilemma: either accept desperately needed U.S. funds but deny women life-saving services and information, or reject U.S. assistance and be forced to cut crucial prevention services.
It’s staggering how many women have borne the brunt of this cruel rule. It’s incomprehensible and horrifying. Approximately 200 million women in developing countries wish to delay or end childbearing but lack access to modern contraceptives.
We can stop this. Add your name to our petition to President-elect Barack Obama. Obama has already signaled that he will overturn the global gag rule soon after he takes office, and we will stand with him and with women all over the world.
Please, sign the petition and join us.
We’ll let you know as soon as we get the word there's a reason to celebrate. While repealing the global gag rule is a critical step in recognizing that women’s health must be a priority, it’s just a first step. The fight for full access to health care and rights is an uphill one, and there is serious work to be done to rectify nearly a decade of bad policies — not just in the U.S. but around the world. In the short term, to move in the right direction, we also need to
- restore funding for UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund
- remove abstinence-only requirements in AIDS funding
- increase foreign assistance for reproductive health, including $1 billion for family planning
President Obama and the new Congress will have their work cut out for them as they take office. There are a multitude of difficult problems facing our country. But fixing the global gag rule will be easy.
Help us make sure it happens. Sign the petition.