Press Releases

NEW YORK — The Biden administration today rescinded the Global Gag Rule (also known as the “Mexico City Policy”'). It also ordered a review of the Trump administration’s “domestic gag rule,” which bars organizations participating in the Title X family planning program from providing abortion services. First ordered by President Reagan in 1984, the Global Gag Rule blocks foreign organizations from receiving certain US funds if they provide abortion services, referrals, or information or if they advocate for changes to abortion laws in their country. Initially restricted to “family planning” funds, President Trump expanded the rule to apply to organizations receiving nearly any global health assistance funds. Grant Shubin, legal director of the Global Justice Center, issued the following statement: “We welcome the repeal of the disastrous Global Gag Rule. Now begins the critical work of communicating the new policy to the world. But let’s be clear — repealing Gag is the bare minimum. “The Biden administration should have also included in this executive order a provision allowing congressionally permitted exceptions for rape, life endangerment, and incest to the Helms Amendment, which is the legal foundation for Gag and has prohibited any U.S. foreign aid from going to abortion services since 1973. Reproductive rights activists should be worried that, like his predecessor, he will ultimately choose political expediency over survivors’ rights to access safe abortion services. “We are also disappointed with the administration’s failure to consistently and explicitly use the word ‘abortion’ since taking office. The global and domestic rules directly target abortion services and by tiptoing around this fact, the Biden administration is stigmatizing abortion — a human right. “The Biden administration can’t call itself a champion of women if it repeals Gag but leaves in place the patriarchal structure around it. The reproductive rights community has compiled a comprehensive agenda for sexual and reproductive health that details what is necessary. If we want to truly “build back better,” we must go beyond simply rolling back Trump’s policies and embrace a bold, feminist agenda for global health and human rights.”

Today, the Trump Administration launched another attack on women’s health, expanding the scope of the Global Gag Rule and the application of the Siljander Amendment. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also announced that the US will cut its assistance to the Organization of American States (OAS) based on claims that its agencies are lobbying for abortions. As a quasi-governmental body, OAS recommendations are expert guidance, not lobbying. The US is censoring free speech around the world and is using the Siljander Amendment to justify decreasing contributions to the OAS on purely ideological grounds. The OAS and its subsidiary bodies, including the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, work to ensure the fundamental human rights of women and girls living in member states. Threatening these institutions’ ability to carry out their mandate through the power of the purse is both unconscionable and illegal. Over the past two weeks at the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, the Trump Administration cemented the US’s new position as a government opposed to women’s rights, health and autonomy—Secretary Pompeo’s announcement today is one more dangerous step in that direction. For more information contact:Liz Olson, Communications Manager at Global Justice Center, lolson@globaljusticecenter.net (212) 725-6530 ext. 217

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – May 23, 2018 [NEW YORK] – The Trump administration proposed a domestic “Gag Rule” last night, banning health centers that provide, refer, support, or assist women in accessing abortion services from receiving Title X funding. This dangerous policy will deny women their fundamental human rights. Like the Global Gag Rule reinstated by President Trump in 2017, the Domestic Gag Rule will coerce doctors into staying silent about the option to terminate a pregnancy (except in extremely limited circumstances) under threat of losing their government funding. In effect, the Domestic Gag Rule will prevent doctors from providing complete and accurate medical guidance to women. Even if a patient asks directly where she can obtain an abortion, a Title X provider will not be able to provide her with direct information in order to allow her to access her constitutionally protected right. “Restricting the conversations that doctors can have with their patients fundamentally violates the principle of free speech,” says Global Justice Center President (acting) Akila Radhakrishnan. “International standards are clear that governments cannot restrict free speech except under very limited circumstances—this is not one of them.” The Global Justice Center is conducting a legal analysis of the 129-page policy and will outline the ways the new policy violates U.S. obligations under international law in a letter to Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar. These funding restrictions are widely viewed as President Trump’s attempt at fulfilling his campaign promise to defund Planned Parenthood—an organization that currently serves over 40% of Title X patients. According to a recent Guttmacher study, if Planned Parenthood is excluded from Title X funding, other Title X providers would need to increase their caseloads by 70%. This overwhelming influx of new patients will challenge the capacity of remaining clinics to meet the demand for other essential services that Title X is intended to fund, including STI screenings, cancer screenings, and contraception. “This policy is the Trump administration’s attempt to see how far they can erode access to abortion services in the United States, and input they are asking for in this process indicates that more restrictive abortion regulations are on the horizon,” says Radhakrishnan. “As anti-choice politicians attack women’s constitutionally protected rights, international standards are increasingly important.” For more information contact: Liz Olson (New York), Global Justice Center, lolson@globaljusticecenter.net 212.725.6530 ext. 217

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - March 2, 2018 [New York] – Today marks the one-year anniversary of the day when governments all over the world came together and created the She Decides initiative to combat the impact of the Trump administration’s expanded Global Gag Rule. She Decides has raised over $450 million to date to support women’s sexual health and reproductive rights, however estimates show that the Gag Rule may impact over $2.2 billion in funding per year. A recent World Health Organization study showed that there are nearly 25 million unsafe abortions performed globally in any given year. Restrictions on abortion funding and services do not reduce abortion rates, but they do result in an increase in unsafe abortions. Marie Stopes International has estimated that 2.5 million unintended pregnancies, 870,000 unsafe abortions, and 6,900 avoidable maternal deaths will occur as a result of funding cuts from the Gag Rule. “This Administration may bumble and flail when it comes to a variety of issues—but it has had a razor focus on ensuring that where it can, it will suppress abortion services, as well as information and speech about abortion,” says Akila Radhakrishnan, President (acting) of the Global Justice Center (GJC). “These restrictions are not only dangerous, they are also illegal. Abortion is a protected and fundamental right under international human rights and humanitarian law. For example, today there is a growing consensus that abortion is protected medical care under international humanitarian law and that as such, abortion services cannot be denied to rape victims in conflict for any reason, including donor restrictions. It is incredibly important to adhere to binding law, not politics, when it comes to women’s health and rights.” The Gag Rule is imposed on top of congressional restrictions on foreign assistance, including the Helms and Siljander Amendments, which not only prohibit the provision of abortion services with US funds, but also restrict abortion related speech including advocacy, research, recommendations and medical information that doctors can provide to their patients. Combined, these US policies create a chilling effect that frequently acts as a blanket ban on abortion speech around the world. “While the work of She Decides is incredibly commendable, at GJC we hope for the day when it is no longer necessary,” continues Radhakrishnan. ‘The only way to ensure that women and girls around the world receive the necessary medical care they are entitled to is for the US to repeal the Gag Rule and the congressional restrictions on funding. It is long past time that US brought itself into compliance with international law when it comes to the health and lives of women and girls around the world.” With every day that the US violates these fundamental rights, more women are dying. For more information contact: Stephanie Olszewski (New York), Global Justice Center, solszewski@globaljusticecenter.net +1.212.725.6530 ext. 211

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - February 9, 2018 [NEW YORK] On Wednesday, the State Department released a six-month review on the impact of the Global Gag Rule (or as the White House calls it, the “Protecting Life in Global Health Assistance” policy.) This review is both limited in scope and extremely premature, as insufficient time has passed to assess the impact of the policy and draw conclusions. “The reinstatement and expansion of the Gag Rule by President Trump in January 2017 was a cause of grave international concern as it drastically restricted US funding for abortion services,” says Akila Radhakrishnan, acting President of the Global Justice Center. “Donors around the world, led by the Dutch government, stepped up their efforts to try to fill the gaps but the sheer breadth of the expanded policy means that the gap will be impossible to fill and that there will be devastating consequences for women and girls around the world.” The provisions of the Gag Rule were only included in new funding agreements and there has not been enough time for those agreements to take effect to draw accurate conclusions about its impact. The conclusions in the review have also already been contradicted by early impact studies by human rights and reproductive rights groups. Contrary to what the State Department says, these studies have found disruptions in health care systems, including likely reductions in essential sexual and reproductive health services. The review does give a glimpse into the extent of the Gag Rule’s reach. Only three direct grantees and twelve sub-grantees of USAID have refused to comply with the provisions of the expanded policy. Of the 733 new global health contracts that included the Gag Rule, 728 have incorporated its requirements, demonstrating the inability to say no to US conditions. A study from the Kaiser Family Foundation found that approximately 88% of NGOs affected by Trump’s expanded Gag Rule would not have been impacted under previous iterations of the Gag Rule, which were limited to family planning. Further, the impact of the Gag Rule cannot be isolated from other US abortion restrictions on foreign assistance, including the Helms amendment. Any further reviews must also consider the impact of these other restrictions in conjunction with and separate from the Gag Rule. “Even while deeply flawed, the review demonstrates the lengths to which the Trump Administration will go to ensure that this harmful and dangerous policy is implemented as thoroughly and restrictively as possible,” says Radhakrishnan. “The study clearly documents the commitment of each affected department—State, USAID, Health and Human Services and Defense—to implement the policy. If the State Department is going to be releasing reports like this, they must be accurate and comprehensive so that we can have a full understanding of the harms of this policy so the US government can be held accountable for those harms.” For more information contact: Stephanie Olszewski (New York), Global Justice Center, solszewski@globaljusticecenter.net +1.212.725.6530 ext. 211

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - September 8, 2017 [NEW YORK, NY] – On Thursday, the Senate Appropriations Committee moved to reinstate funding for the United Nations Population Fund and overturn Trump’s reinstatement and expansion of the Global Gag Rule. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen from New Hampshire proposed an amendment to the 2018 State and Foreign Operations Appropriations Bill that would overturn Trump’s expanded version of the Gag Rule, reinstate US contributions to UNFPA and limit the power of any future president to reinstate the Gag Rule. The amendment was approved with the votes of two female republicans, Senator Collins from Maine and Senator Murkowski from Alaska, but still needs to pass the full senate to become law. “For the past forty years the rights and lives of women and girls around the world have been used as a political football, changing with the whims of each new US administration. We commend Senator Sheehan for taking initiative to limit the effects of these inhuman policies,” says Janet Benshoof, president of the Global Justice Center. “Trump’s massive expansion of the Global Gag Rule and defunding of UNFPA were attempts to by this administration to turn their sexist and misogynist rhetoric into law. We applaud the Senate for taking a step towards standing up and saying no to these dangerous policies.” Trump’s expanded version of the Global Gag applies not only to organizations that receive family planning funding but also to all organizations that receive any global health funds. This includes maternal health programs, including Zika and HIV/AIDS programming. Under international law, abortion is protected medical care for women, the denial of which can constitute violations of women’s rights to be free from gender-based discrimination, free from torture, cruel and inhuman treatment and rights to life and health. By imposing restrictions on abortion access in the US and abroad, the US is violating women’s human rights and its own obligations under international law. Furthermore, the defunding of UNFPA and instatement of the Global Gag Rule has received global condemnation, including from US allies, and has resulted in efforts like the Dutch-led “She Decides” initiative to counter their impact. “The Senate just took a huge step in reaffirming women’s rights around the world,” says Benshoof. “In the past 5 years, countries and international entities including the UN and EU have recognized that abortion is protected medical care for girls and women raped in war. Passage of these amendments is a starting point to put the US in step with its allies and in compliance with international law.” For more information contact: Stephanie Olszewski (New York), Global Justice Center, solszewski@globaljusticecenter.net +1.212.725.6530 ext. 211

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE — May 15, 2017 [NEW YORK, NY] -  Today, Donald Trump is announcing a new policy entitled “Protecting Life in Global Health Assistance." This policy will massively expand the Global Gag Rule by drastically increasing the amount of global health assistance funds and government programs that will be covered, affecting some $8.8 billion dollars. In the past the Global Gag Rule has been limited to overseas family planning assistance only. This new policy is said to cover a broad range of funds for global health, including maternal and child health, HIV/AIDS, malaria and family planning. “This is exactly what we feared,” says Global Justice Center Vice-President, Akila Radhakrishnan. “The Trump Administration has decided to use the power of its purse to endanger the lives of girls and women around the world on an unprecedented scale. 13% of maternal deaths around the world are due to unsafe abortions. Far from being “pro-life,” this is a policy that will almost guarantee the deaths of women around the world.” The Gag Rule, or Mexico City Policy is re-instated by every Republican president. If Trump had merely maintained Bush’s order, the Gag Rule had have censored the $608 million of US foreign aid budgeted for family planning assistance in 2017. This expansion also means that the funds set up to counter the Global Gag Rule, including the Dutch She Decides initiative, which raised a commendable $181 million dollars, will have a much larger funding gap to fill. “Yesterday, President Trump issued a statement declaring this week Women’s Health Week and recognized the importance of providing women access to the best, evidence-based health information and care,” says Radhakrishnan. “Time and time again, it has been proven that restrictions on abortion serve no purpose other than to make abortion unsafe. Trump continues his habit of saying one thing and doing the exact opposite by kicking off Women’s Health Week by expanding this grotesque and inhumane policy.” For more information contact: Stephanie Olszewski (New York), Global Justice Center, solszewski@globaljusticecenter.net +1.212.725.6530 ext. 211

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE  March 8 2017 Washington, DC – Today, on International Women’s Day and the day of the Women’s Strike, the Global Justice Center joins over 40 other partner organizations in protesting against Trump’s reinstated and expanded Global Gag Rule. The protest takes place just a week after the international “She Decides” Conference in Brussels raised $181 million dollars to combat the deadly impact of the Global Gag Rule. The Gag Rule requires that foreign non-governmental organizations certify that they will not perform or actively promote abortion as a method of family planning as a condition of receiving US global health assistance funds. While previously the Gag rule only applied to foreign family planning assistance, Trump’s Global Gag Rule censors all global health assistance--which could be up to $10.3 billion dollars. “The leadership shown by the international community to stand up for the rights of women and girls and acknowledge the centrality of abortion access to women’s equality is inspiring; they know that women’s lives are at stake,” says Akila Radhakrishnan, Vice-President and Legal Director of the Global Justice Center. “US anti-choice legislators have long used foreign aid as a weapon to dictate abortion policy abroad for years. Trump’s Global Gag Rule is a dangerous extension of US policy that for decades has violated the rights of women and girls around the world.” The protest includes a march to the White House, where there will be a rally featuring speakers including Ilyse Hogue, President of Naral Pro-Choice USA, and Eve Ensler, Founder of One Billion Rising and V-Day. Tomorrow, the Global Justice Center’s President will brief European parliamentarians and governments on the impact of the Gag Rule and what needs to be done to ensure that women’s access to necessary medical care, including abortion, remains protected over the next 4 years and beyond. “After the inauguration, millions of women came together around the world and raised their voices against Trump’s sexist and dangerous policies,” says Janet Benshoof, President of the Global Justice Center. “Today, women are coming together again to reiterate that we will not be gagged or silenced and the world will hear our voices.” For more information contact: Stephanie Olszewski (New York), Global Justice Center, solszewski@globaljusticecenter.net +1.212.725.6530 ext. 211

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE March 2 2017 Brussels (BE) – Today, the Belgian, Dutch, Swedish and Danish Governments hosted a conference in support of the global fundraising initiative “She Decides.” The initiative was founded to combat the impact of the Global Gag Rule that Donald Trump signed on his second day in office. Representatives from over 50 governments, civil society and grassroots activists gathered over the last two days in Brussels to discuss their work, how they will be impacted by Trump’s reinstatement and expansion of the Global Gag Rule and to make commitments to ensuring funding for sexual and reproductive health and rights around the world. “The conference is an exciting opportunity to bring together people from different sectors to combine forces to counter the devastating impact of the US abortion restrictions and reinforce that access to reproductive health care, including abortion, is central to women’s rights,” says Akila Radhakrishnan, Vice-President and Legal Director of the Global Justice Center. “The Global Gag Rule exacerbates the chilling effect of the Helms amendment on abortion-related activities around the world and organizations frequently over-interpret the restrictions and halt all abortion-related activity for fear of losing their substantial US funding. With Gag not only re-instated but also massively expanded, we expect the chilling effect to be greater than anything we’ve seen before. We need governments and civil-society to stand up for women’s rights to cut through this chill.” Two days after Trump signed the Gag Rule, Lilianne Ploumen, the Dutch Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation created the She Decides Initiative to increase the financial and political support for sexual health and family planning organizations worldwide, aiming to mitigate the impact of decreased US funding. Today, $181 million dollars was pledged towards supporting SRHR. And while the initiative is laudable, this support needs to be sustained and go beyond funding. “We have had enormous successes in advancing women’s rights since the last time Gag was in place,” says Janet Benshoof, President of the Global Justice Center. “Today there is a growing consensus, including by European donors, that abortion is protected medical care under international humanitarian law and that as such, abortion services cannot be denied to rape victims in conflict for any reason, including donor restrictions. We are not starting in the same place we were 16 years ago when Bush re-instated the Gag Rule. This initiative and conference show how incredibly important it is to adhere to binding law, not politics, when it comes to women’s health and rights. To have everyone coming together to find creative and practical ways to ensure women have access to healthcare on the ground is really inspiring.” For more information contact: Stephanie Olszewski (New York), Global Justice Center, solszewski@globaljusticecenter.net +1.212.725.6530 ext. 211