Will the Gag Go?

During consideration of the State Department Authorization, Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA), will offer an amendment overturning the policy, originally introduced by President Reagan and reinstated by President Bush on his first day in office.

"Does the Global Gag Rule help save and improve lives? Clearly the answer is ‘no.’ Does the policy help vital foreign assistance reach the world’s poorest people? The answer is ‘no.’ Does the Global Gag Rule prevent abortion? Again, the answer is ‘no.’ It’s time for the Senate to send a clear message to the White House by overturning the gag rule," says Population Action International (PAI) President Amy Coen.

"From Nigeria to South Africa — nations the President will visit on his historic trip to Africa this week — when women have access to reproductive health care, economic opportunities and education, millions of lives are saved and improved. It’s a great — but largely untold — success story. Yet this harmful policy erects walls between the world’s poorest people and the vital reproductive health services they desperately need to improve their lives," Coen stresses.

The Global Gag Rule bars U.S. funding for any organization that uses its own non-U.S. money to provide legal abortion, talk to its patients about the availability of legal abortion, or even talk about its own country’s abortion laws. The policy coerces family planning clinics, doctors, and organizations into sacrificing their right to fully counsel patients or even participate in democratic debate in order to receive U.S. funding for voluntary family planning services. In other words, the Global Gag Rule is not about abortion but is a de facto ban on providing women with comprehensive reproductive health care in the developing world.

Population Action International (PAI) works to improve individual well-being and preserve global resources by mobilizing political and financial support for population, family planning and reproductive health policies and programs.