With each presidential election in the U.S., access to health care and reproductive rights for tens of millions of women, girls and LGBTQI+ people around the world hangs in the balance. Will they be able to access contraception and STD testing?
With the stroke of a pen, Republican presidents have pulled funds for life-saving health care by signing the global gag rule into effect, barring U.S. aid to any overseas organizations that counsel patients on or provide abortions, even with their own funds.
The version of the global gag rule that was put into effect in 2017 was the strictest and most harmful yet, applying to every single dollar of U.S. global health assistance. American dollars meant to pay for life-saving treatments completely unrelated to abortion—like Pap smears, maternity care or HIV drugs—get caught up in the political fray. And every four years, the threat of future presidents reinstating it resurfaces. This creates a “chilling effect” among health care providers, making them reluctant to create programs that could end abruptly or put them at risk of losing critical funding, including those that are completely compliant with U.S. regulations.
At AJWS, we believe that all people have the right to quality health care and accurate and comprehensive information about sexual and reproductive health so they can make informed decisions about their lives and bodies. We support grassroots activists around the world who are fighting for these very rights. Some of our partners have received U.S. foreign assistance and know how this support has the power to save and transform lives. They also know how dangerous it is to play politics with the rights and health of women, girls, LGBTQI+ people and other vulnerable communities.
In El Salvador, AJWS partners are fighting against the criminalization of abortion—which has led to women experiencing miscarriage being jailed—and for comprehensive sex education and access to contraception.
In Kenya, India and Thailand, our partners work to ensure that women, girls, LGBTQI+ people and others who face barriers to accessing HIV testing and treatment can receive it, and they advocate to build a world where people living with HIV/AIDS do not face harassment, stigma and violations of their human rights.
Rori Kramer, Director of U.S. Advocacy and Government Affairs at AJWS, shares that reinstating the global gag rule, especially the expanded version we saw under Trump’s presidency, would be “catastrophic for global health and human rights. I’m in touch with AJWS partners who have seen life-saving health programs and clinics close out of fear of losing U.S. funding, even though they were following the rules. We need to repeal the global gag rule once and for all and keep American politicians out of doctors’ offices around the world.”