Abortion rates went up in some countries the last time 'global gag rule' was in effect
LOS ANGELES TIMES
28 JAN 2017 AT 19:15 ET
JOHANNESBURG — Republican U.S. administrations dating back to Ronald Reagan's have sought to reduce the number of abortions around the world by requiring that overseas family planning groups refrain from performing or promoting the procedure as a condition for receiving U.S. aid.
One of President Donald Trump's first acts in office this past week was to bring back the ban, but the effect might not be what was intended. When the policy was last in effect, abortion rates increased in some sub-Saharan African nations, researchers found.
Then, as now, some of the biggest providers of reproductive health care around the world — groups such as the International Planned Parenthood Federation and Marie Stopes International — decided to forgo U.S. funding rather than limit the services they provide and risk exposing more women to unsafe abortions.
That meant cutting staff, scaling back services and closing clinics that had provided some of the only access to modern contraception in remote parts of the world. The result has been more unintended pregnancies and more abortions.
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http://www.rawstory.com/2017/01/abortion-rates-went-up-in-some-countries-the-last-time-global-gag-rule-was-in-effect/
