AFRO-NETS> Impact of the Global Gag Rule

[Merrill Wolf <WolfM@ipas.org>]

Impact of the Global Gag Rule
-----------------------------
 
New analyses debunk U.S. government claims about impact of the 
Global Gag Rule
 
Chapel Hill, NC, October 30, 2003 -- Mounting evidence contra-
dicts U.S. government claims that the Mexico City Policy has lit-
tle effect on family planning and related services or on advocacy 
for reform of restrictive abortion laws. Drawing on sources in-
cluding two recent reports that document decreased availability 
of critical health services and stifled political debate in six 
countries, Ipas and the Center for Reproductive Rights have re-
leased a fact sheet, available on both organizations' websites, 
that exposes the Mexico City Policy, also known as the Global Gag 
Rule, as dangerous and anti-democratic. 
 
"Many of us in the reproductive health field see the devastating 
effects of the gag rule every day in our work around the world," 
said Barbara Crane, Executive Vice President of Ipas. "This new 
research confirms what we have long known to be true: This policy 
jeopardizes the health and lives of many of the world's poorest 
women. The government's claims to the contrary are misleading at 
best." 
 
Issued by President George W. Bush on January 22, 2001, the 
Global Gag Rule prohibits U.S. family planning assistance to for-
eign nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) that use funds from any 
source to perform, provide counselling or referral, or lobby for 
abortion. U.S. law has barred use of American funds for overseas 
provision of abortion services since 1973; the newer policy aims 
instead to silence discussion of abortion, even between physi-
cians and their patients, and in circumstances in which abortion 
is legally permitted.
 
Analysis by Ipas and the Center for Reproductive Rights (CRR) 
disproves assertions on U.S. Agency for International Develop-
ment's (USAID) website that the Mexico City Policy "does not have 
a major impact on the provision of family planning services," le-
gal abortion, or lobbying to change abortion laws. The analysis 
found, for instance, that: 
* By 2002, the gag rule had led to a reduction of USAID-donated 
  contraceptive supplies to 16 countries and to leading family 
  planning agencies in another 13. 
* Refusal to adhere to the policy by two of Kenya's leading fam-
  ily planning NGOs forced them to close five clinics and cut ser-
  vices in remaining facilities. 
* Thirty-five of 56 countries receiving USAID family planning as-
  sistance permit abortion on grounds broader than those permitted 
  under the Mexico City Policy; health-care providers working in 
  those countries at NGOs that wish to receive U.S. assistance can 
  no longer provide the full range of reproductive health-care ser-
  vices or information to their patients. 
* NGOs in at least 20 countries affected by the gag rule have re-
  cently attempted to reform abortion laws and policies. In numer-
  ous cases, the voices of the organizations most qualified to 
  speak out about women's needs for safe abortion-related care and 
  about the impact of unsafe abortion have been silenced by the gag 
  rule. 
 
Primary sources informing Ipas's and CRR's analysis include two 
reports released in the last two months, which examine different 
aspects of the gag rule's effects. "Access Denied", (available at 
http://www.globalgagrule.org/) issued by a coalition of NGOs led 
by Population Action International, focuses on organizations in 
Ethiopia, Kenya, Romania and Zambia that declined to accept the 
policy's restrictions and therefore lost U.S. family planning as-
sistance. Breaking the Silence (available at 
http://www.reproductiverights.org/pub_bo_ggr.html ), researched 
and written by staff of CRR, examines effects on organizations in 
Ethiopia, Kenya, Peru and Uganda that agreed to the policy's re-
strictions in order to maintain critical funding, with a particu-
lar focus on how vital voices are now kept out of ongoing debates 
regarding saving women's lives from unsafe abortion. 
 
Ipas is a 30-year-old nongovernmental organization dedicated en-
tirely to ending preventable deaths and injuries of women caused 
by unsafe abortion. Ipas seeks to expand the availability, qual-
ity and sustainability of abortion and related reproductive-
health services. Ipas believes that no woman should have to risk 
her life or health because she lacks safe reproductive-health 
choices.
 
For more information, contact:
 
Merrill Wolf
Senior Associate, Public Information
Tel: +1-919-960-5612
Fax: +1-919-929-7687
mailto:wolfm@ipas.org
http://www.ipas.org
 
Or visit the website of the Center for Reproductive Rights at
http://www.reprorights.org/

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