More Than A Magazine, A Movement
In the midst of an uncontrolled pandemic, instead of focusing on policies to prevent death and disease, the Trump administration is pushing forward with its dangerous expansion of the global gag rule (GGR), which is a threat to health in so many countries.
We have a long way to go to ensure that the U.S. regains its position as a leader in global health.
The Trump administration is rushing through last-minute regulations and signing contracts with Republican governors designed to prevent the incoming administration from restoring civil rights protections and expanding health care access.
President-Elect Biden’s platform for women promises to be the most ambitious presidential agenda yet addressing issues that affect women and girls. This is the first of a multi-part series covering the agenda.
The health care prong of President Elect Biden’s agenda for women includes protecting and strengthening access to reproductive health care, expanding access to high-quality, affordable health care, addressing maternal mortality and tackling health inequities. The platform focuses in particular on developing health care protections for LGBTQ+ women, women with disabilities, incarcerated women, women veterans and Native women.
“We are at a tipping point. On one hand, we have the 25th anniversary initiatives and global health, feminist and social justice movements. On the other, we have the in-built systemic inequities and legislative obstacles these movements face.”
This week, the administration announced that it is proposing to expand the dangerous and harmful “global gag rule” even further than it already has.
The proposed expansion of the policy would, for the first time, cover all contracts that organizations have with the United States for global health work, not only grant funding.
The Helms Amendment—named for the late, self-proclaimed bigot, Senator Jesse Helms (R-N.C.)—prohibits U.S. aid for pregnancy terminations. It’s time to repeal the Helms Amendment and replace it with sound policy that supports full reproductive healthcare access. That is what women abroad deserve: our respect.
John Barsa, administrator for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), has asked for all references to sexual and reproductive health to be removed from the UN’s Global Humanitarian Response Plan. Barsa claims the U.N. is using the pandemic to advance access to abortion by including it as an “essential” health service.
Here’s the thing: Abortion is essential health care —including during a pandemic.
Elected officials in both the U.S. House and Senate have sent letters to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo urging the State Department, as well as the Trump administration, to provide proper emergency global health funding for the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), as well as a humanitarian exemption to ensure UNFPA will be able to compete for emergency supplemental funds.
The Government Accountability Office report confirms: The harmful global gag rule has been applied at an unprecedented scale, impacting a range of health services, and weakening health systems.
Until our country treats human rights—including access to safe abortion—as a fundamental obligation, our rights, and those of people around the world, remain vulnerable.
