Category Archives: ‘Global gag rule’

End all legal barriers to abortion, say leading European politicians

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Belgium’s prime minister among signatories to open letter backing global right to safe abortions and reopening of clinics closed in pandemic

Government ministers from five European countries, including Belgium’s prime minister, Alexander de Croo, are among 29 politicians, healthcare and women’s rights activists who have signed an open letter calling for the removal of all legal barriers to abortion.

The letter, signed by gender and equality ministers from France, Canada and Norway, and international development ministers from Sweden and the Netherlands, states that women’s right to safe, legal abortion is being eroded by misinformation and attacks on services. It calls for the reopening of abortion clinics closed during the pandemic.

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Joe Biden axes ‘global gag rule’ but health groups call on him to go further

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President’s move to end ‘abortion ban’ on overseas funding hailed – now aid groups want apology for harmful Trump policies

Health groups around the world are celebrating the end of a harmful policy banning US funding for overseas aid organisations that facilitate or promote abortion, which was scrapped by the US president, Joe Biden, in a presidential memorandum on Thursday.

Reproductive rights advocates are urging the new administration to now go further and permanently repeal the Mexico City policy – known as the “global gag rule” – to prevent it being reinstated by a future Republican president. The policy has been blamed for contributing to thousands of maternal deaths in the developing world over the past four years.

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‘We’re going to save lives’: aid groups look to end of Trump’s ‘global gag rule’

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Joe Biden’s election as US president raises reproductive funding hopes – but some caution that reversing rule’s impact will not be quick

Nelly Munyasia breathed a huge sigh of relief when Joe Biden won the US election in November.

“I am excited and I am hopeful that things are going to be better. We are going to access funding and we are going to save the lives of women and girls,” she says, before explaining how tough the past four years has been.

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Marie Stopes charity changes name in break with campaigner’s view on eugenics

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Organisation says Black Lives Matter movement reaffirmed commitment to changing name to MSI Reproductive Choices

Marie Stopes International (MSI) is to change its name in an attempt to break its association with the family planning pioneer.

From Tuesday, the abortion and contraception provider, which operates in 37 countries, will abbreviate the initials and go by the name MSI Reproductive Choices.

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Nepal’s family planning clinics feel the force of Trump’s global gag rule

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Brutal cuts to US-funded reproductive health services threaten to throw progress in the south Asian country into sharp reverse

Devendra Amgai lost his job in November. The 42-year-old public health professional was working in one of Nepal’s more remote districts, distributing contraceptives to women.

The project was proving successful. With little alternative access to medicines or healthcare, local women were seeking out the clinic in ever-increasing numbers.

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Trump’s anti-abortion global gag rule harming women in Africa and Asia, report says

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‘People are dying as a result of the policy’ that bans aid to foreign groups who provide or promote abortions, says author of report

The Trump administration’s anti-abortion restrictions on US global health aid funding have significantly damaged health care for women in Africa and central Asia, according to a new report.

Restrictions on funding also include limiting access to funds for sex education, and shifting funds to anti-LGBTQ and pro-abstinence groups such as Focus on the Family, researchers say.

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Penny Mordaunt says UK will defend abortion rights amid global pushback

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Development secretary vows government will ‘hold a strong line’, after attempts by Trump administration to weaken commitments

Britain’s international development secretary has promised to stand firm in her support for abortion rights in the face of growing opposition.

Speaking at an event hosted by the Canadian embassy on Monday, Penny Mordaunt said: “Leadership means not shying away from issues like safe abortion when the evidence shows us these services will save women’s lives.”

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Trump expands global gag rule that blocks US aid for abortion groups

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Policy bans aid going to foreign groups that support abortion rights as secretary of state Pompeo says: ‘This is decent and right’

The Trump administration has expanded its ban on funding for groups that conduct abortions or advocate abortion rights, known as the global gag rule, and has also cut funding to the Organisation of American States for that reason.

Related: How Trump signed a global death warrant for women | Sarah Boseley

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‘People will end up dying’: Trump’s cuts devastate clinics in Zambia | Rebecca Ratcliffe

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Teen pregnancies are soaring and HIV care has stalled in rural communities hit by ‘global gag’ funding cuts

It is under-fives week at Zambia’s Nyangwena health centre and, outside in the morning sunshine, women are taking turns to weigh their babies. A noisy toddler wriggles as his mum places him into the harness of a set of scales. Measurements are taken and, afterwards, ice lollies handed out to children.

Reaching families in the surrounding rural communities is a major challenge for staff at the centre, and, after outreach services were stripped back, things are getting worse.

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