The Global HER Act, led by Rep. Lois Frankel, aims to permanently repeal the global gag rule, which restricts funding for international healthcare providers that offer or even discuss abortion services—jeopardizing reproductive care for millions worldwide.
Rep. Lois Frankel (D-Fla.) is the lead sponsor of the recently introduced Global Health, Empowerment, and Rights (HER) Act. The Global HER Act would permanently repeal the global gag rule—also known as the Mexico City Policy—which prohibits international NGOs from receiving U.S. funding if they provide, promote or even share information about abortion (and even if they use their own resources to do so). Opponents use the word “gag” because the provision silences what organizations can say about abortion.
The House legislation was co-introduced with Reps. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), Ami Bera (D-Calif.), Grace Meng (D-N.Y.) and Norma Torres (D-Calif.); Sens. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) introduced companion legislation in the Senate.
Since it was implemented by President Ronald Reagan in 1984, the global gag rule has been repeatedly repealed and reinstated by executive action, depending upon the president’s party affiliation. Most recently, after a four-year reprieve under the Biden administration, it was reinstated by President Donald Trump during his first week in office—a decision Frankel condemned as a “cruel and dangerous move backward.”
What makes the current situation worse than the last time Trump instated the global gag rule, Frankel told Ms., “is that they’ve [completely] cut off funding to foreign assistance. And that has caused such chaos and panic and fear in the world.” She explained that many of the agencies or clinics impacted are where “people are going … for their primary care. They’re not going in for an abortion,” but instead are simply seeking advice about their reproductive health; the global gag rule prevents these organizations from even providing guidance. In short, “they’re gagging you, they’re putting something over your mouth to prevent you from giving information.”
As Frankel explained, the Global HER Act would combat the recent reinstatement of the global gag rule by ensuring “that no woman should be denied the ability to make her own healthcare choices, no matter where she lives.” To do so, the act enables “eligible foreign NGOs operating U.S.-supported health programs abroad [to] use their own non-U.S. funds to provide health services.” Under the Global HER Act, these NGOs would no longer be required to relinquish their free speech rights as a condition of receiving aid under the global gag rule.
Because of the global gag rule’s reinstatement, Frankel explained, “There are 2.6 million highly vulnerable marginalized women and girls who will now lose access to services … which will result in an estimated 2.4 million unintended pregnancies.” These services are critical in helping women and girls take control of their reproductive health in ways beyond receiving an abortion. In reality, the global gag rule is “cutting off the funding to clinics and agencies that actually prevent abortions.” Therefore, the Global HER Act would not only open up urgent care to women and girls seeking abortions but additionally provide them with holistic support for their reproductive well-being.
Despite its potential to resolve the global gag rule’s devastating consequences to women and girls worldwide, the Global HER Act has little chance of being enacted by this Congress, even with widespread support among Democrats, as well as two Republicans (Murkowski and Sen. Susan Collins of Maine). Still, Frankel sees value in just introducing the legislation, as an act of protest.
“Silence is an enemy,” Frankel told Ms. “And so, we cannot be silent. … One of the ways that we talk is with a bill.”
