In one of his first acts as President, Donald Trump has reinstated the Mexico City Policy, commonly know as the ‘global gag rule’ on abortion.
The ban, which was introduced back in 1984 by then-president Ronald Reagan, prevents US money from being used to fund international health charities and organisations that provide abortion services or provide education about abortion – even if government dollars aren’t specifically being used for abortions.
Since it was brought in by Reagan, the gag rule has gone back and forth, revoked by Bill Clinton, brought back by George W. Bush and then done away with by President Obama back in 2009.
Passed on Monday, the timing of Trump’s executive order is particularly painful, given that it came one day after the anniversary of the landmark Roe vs. Wade court case that gave women the right to legal abortion in 1973, and two days after millions protested the President’s misogyny through peaceful marches around the world.
Opponents of the policy on social media noted that the widely-circulated image of Trump presenting his first executive order shows the President surrounded by an all-male group – it’s safe to say that women’s rights are hardly top of the agenda in the Trump administration.
The ‘gag rule’ gets its name because it stops federal funding being sent to any charity that even mentions abortion as an option for women.
The United States current spend around $600 million a year on family planning services around the world, making it possible for 27 million people to access contraception. None of that money, however, is currently spent on abortions due to the Helms Amendment of 1973, which stated that not a single US tax dollar can be put towards funding abortions.
This policy will have major implications for women and girls in developing countries, as international organisations will be forced to reassess and potentially reduce the family planning services they provide.
Historically, when the gag rule has been instated, abortion rates actually tends to increase – and illegal abortions tend to lead to higher female mortality rate. A 2016 report from the Guttmacher Institute suggests that for every decrease of $10 million in US family planning funding, 38,000 more abortions would take place, of which 30,000 would be unsafe, and 200 more maternal deaths would be likely to occur.
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