![]() Under this rule, that group must now choose between losing its US funding-slashing its operating budget in half-or restricting or cutting its reproductive health programs. The restriction makes needed health funds the instrument to curtail the speech and activities of activists and health providers in other countries, preventing them from sharing health information with patients about abortion or discussing potential reforms to abortion laws without losing their US funds.įor example, take the case of a foreign nongovernmental organization receiving 50 percent of its funds from non-US sources to provide sexual and reproductive health services, including counseling, referrals, or services related to abortion, and the other 50 percent from the US to provide vaccinations for babies, nutritional supplements, or treatment for HIV/AIDS, malaria, and TB.Health programs that lose US funding may have to cut services linked to newborn, infant and child health, including vaccinations prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis (TB) and nutrition programs.The restrictions will cause easily preventable maternal deaths, both due to unsafe abortion and to an increase in unplanned pregnancies in places where rates of maternal mortality are already high.Women and girls in about 60 low- and middle-income countries will have less access to contraception, resulting in more unintended pregnancies, and more-often unsafe-abortions.Because the US is the largest global donor on health, the rule is likely to undermine progress on improving health.The effects of the rule on these programs are still unknown but will most likely include the following profoundly damaging impacts: Trump’s policy extends restrictions to an estimated $8.8 billion in US global health assistance, including funding support for family planning and reproductive health, maternal and child health, nutrition, HIV/AIDS-including The President’s Plan for Emergency Relief for AIDS (PEPFAR), prevention and treatment of tuberculosis, malaria (including the President’s Malaria Initiative), infectious diseases, neglected tropical diseases, and even to water, sanitation, and hygiene programs. Under previous Republican administrations, the restrictions in the Mexico City Policy applied specifically to US family planning funds, approximately US$575 million. What makes Trump’s version of the rule so much worse than previous versions, and why do health advocates say it will have a devastating impact? ![]() The standard provision has not been updated to reflect this recommendation. A six-month review of the policy’s implementation did recommend providing more discretion to US government departments and agencies when there is a violation, if the recipient in good faith tried to comply with the rule. Health assistance provided to recipients found to violate the rule can be terminated. This policy is also widely known as the “Global Gag Rule” due to the restrictions it places on how organizations use their own non-US government funds, including through limiting conversations that health providers can have with their patients and preventing them from pressing for legal change in their own countries. advocate for the liberalization of abortion laws.counsel patients about the option of abortion or refer them for abortion, or.The Mexico City Policy is a separate rule that goes further, and requires foreign nongovernmental organizations receiving US global health assistance to certify that they do not use their own non-US funds to: US law has banned using US foreign aid for abortion-related activities since 1973. On May 15, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson approved a plan named Protecting Life in Global Health Assistance to implement this expansion. This order reinstates and dramatically expands the “Mexico City Policy” adopted under previous Republican administrations since 1984. On January 23, 2017, United States President Donald Trump issued a Presidential Memorandum Regarding the Mexico City Policy. What is Trump’s “Mexico City Policy,” also known as the “Global Gag Rule”?
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