Trump details anti-abortion ban over US global health aid

[progree]

Source: Associated Press

President Donald Trump is moving forward with a plan to massively expand a ban on federal dollars going to international groups that perform abortions or provide abortion information.

Senior administration officials said Monday that a plan to expand the so-called "Mexico City Policy" had gone into effect. The policy would apply broadly to organizations receiving U.S. global health assistance. Past versions of the ban specifically targeted international family planning groups.

About $8.8 billion in funding could be impacted, far more than the $600,000 covered under the previous version of the ban. The expanded policy is being dubbed "Protecting Life in Global Health Assistance."

The officials said the ban would apply to groups working on HIV/AIDS, malaria, maternal and child health, reproductive issues and global health.


Read more: https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-details-anti-abortion-ban-over-us-global-212504390--politics.html

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Short article. No more at link.

A huge expansion of the "Mexico City Policy" aka "Global Gag Rule" from $600 Million to $8.8 billion. (the $600,000 figure in the article is incorrect - I know that from multiple sources. Still, $600 M -> $8.8 B is a 14.7-fold increase.)

Another more informative article:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/donald-trump-global-abortion-policy_us_5919bacae4b0031e737f382e

[LilithLithium]

1. She Decides

Well, good thing then that already in January the Dutch minister of Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation, Liliane Ploumen, set up a foundation named She Decides (https://www.shedecides.com) to raise money to keep on funding the organisations hit by the global gag rule. Last thing I read was that at least 17 countries have donated 181 million Euros. I guess they will have to step up a bit more, and more countries need to join in.

NYT interview with Liliane Ploumen from February:
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/20/health/lilianne-ploumen-abortion-gag-rule-she-decides.html

[Hortensis]

3. Umhm. Other countries increasing their involvement

(already considerable, of course, in some cases) is a positive consequence of this action that those who approve it will not be able to undo. By cancelling our role in this and many other areas, they're shifting power and say over events to others and don't know it yet.

Welcome to DU.

[LilithLithium]

4. Maybe shifting power

to other countries is a good thing if that means the USA can't bully the rest of the world into obedience anymore. Well, I'm European, so maybe I'm a bit biased about that. But seeing all the harm that one idiot POTUS can cause ...

And thanks for the welcome

[Hortensis]

5. Agree. Other nations let us have disproportionate say

in part because in so many cases we were footing most of the bill, but it has resulted in a planet that can be destabilized by one wack job of an election and people trying to roll back the Enlightenment. So, a much-needed rebalancing is happening. Some results won't be what anyone wants, of course, but overall hopefully it'll be for the best.

Speaking of, new Ebola outbreak...

[secondwind]

6. welcome to DU!!!

[LilithLithium]

8. Thank you! ;)

[muriel_volestrangler]

2. The Rude Pundit points out its effects (quite likely to include an increase in abortion)

In the press release, the State Department defines "global health assistance" as "funding for international health programs, such as those for HIV/AIDS, maternal and child health, malaria, global health security, and family planning and reproductive health." You got that? It means that if a pregnant woman in Angola with Zika is told by the nurse at an NGO that her fetus has been impacted by the disease and the NGO receives funds from USAID, that nurse can't even wink and say, "How about a schmabortion?"

Is that juvenile and kind of dumb? Well, so's the fuckin' policy. And so's the press release because you know what word is not in the whole document announcing a savagely backwards policy on abortion as medical necessity? Abortion. It doesn't fucking mention "abortion" once, so it sounds like a bland revision when it's actually a kick in the teeth to women in countries where NGO provide the only health care available. It hides the awful fuckery.
...
By the way, you know what the doubly-pathetic part of this assertion of patriarchal power over women's bodies is? It doesn't work. In fact, the abortion rate went up in a bunch of countries during the W. Bush administration, when the gag rule was in place. Amazing, right? That preventing women from having access to contraception and pregnancy care might end up with more abortions occurring? It's almost as if facts don't matter.

http://rudepundit.blogspot.co.uk/2017/05/trump-administration-expands-cruel-anti.html

A study of nearly two dozen countries in sub-Saharan Africa found that the abortion actually rate rose during the George W Bush administration in countries affected by the ban.

For IPPF, the Bush-era policy resulted in a significant loss of funds that affected its programs for years. One IPPF member association, a group that provided family planning and HIV services in Ethiopia, lost 10% of its USAid funding and 25% of its funding from IPPF. As a result, Ethiopia experienced a major contraceptive supply crisis, a spokeswoman for IPPF said.

“We know that when family planning services and contraceptives are easily accessible, there are fewer unplanned pregnancies, maternal deaths, and abortions,” said Senator Jeanne Shaheen on Monday. “Yet the Trump administration has chosen to ignore decades of research in favor of an ideological crusade that cuts off vital family planning services.”

[secondwind]

7. The proverbial PANDERER... god, I hate this man so much!!! and WHERE is his saintly Ivanka on this?

[Nitram]

9. Trump is calling in reinforcements from the right wing Xian community.

Too little, too late.