With the stroke of a pen, President Obama today has lifted the stranglehold on women's health across the globe. His repeal of the Mexico City Policy (the global gag rule) ends eight long years of policies that have blocked access to basic health care for women worldwide. No longer will health care providers be forced to choose between receiving family planning funding and restricting the health care services they provide to women.
To women around the world, no sound is sweeter than that of President Obama's strong, clear support of women's health. The overturning of the "global gag rule" means millions of women will be able to access birth control and family planning since health care entities that provide the full range of reproductive health care will once again be eligible for international family planning funding.
Planned Parenthood has not only refused "gag funding," while we continue to do work in more 17 countries around the world, but we've also helped in other ways.
The Family Planning Association of Nepal's (FPAN) story is one that health clinics around the world face. They refused to agree to the global gag rule and lost its U.S. funding. As a result, they faced dire financial circumstances.
The former Director General, Dr. Nirmal Bista, testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in July 2001, saying: "Were we to accept the restricted U.S. funds, I would be prevented from speaking in my own country to my own government about a health care crisis I know first-hand. But by rejecting U.S funds, I put our clinics -- clinics addressing that same health care crisis -- in very real jeopardy. It is an untenable situation. But, we simply could not stand by and watch countless women suffer and die without doing everything we could to prevent this misery."
Planned Parenthood stepped in and provided FPAN with one year of bridge funding so that it could continue to provide services while seeking new support to replace lost U.S. funds.
Under President Bush, the global gag rule forced the closing of hundreds of these health clinics worldwide -- clinics that provided critical services other than safe abortion such as mammograms, family planning and HIV testing -- due to loss of funding, and took away the freedom of providers to be honest and open with women about their health options. The impact on women's health and lives has been so far-reaching that we will probably never know the true extent of the harm.
With the election of Barack Obama as our next president and the appointment of Hillary Clinton as our next Secretary of State, the United States has a unique opportunity to restore women's health and well-being to the center of the foreign policy agenda. President Obama and Secretary Clinton understand that promoting women's rights not only improves health and well-being, but also has concrete benefits for economic, political, and social development. Over the past 15 or so years, research has emerged to demonstrate that investing in women promotes active civil society, good governance, and leads to concrete improvements in the welfare of families.
Repealing the global gag rule is a critical step, but more work must be done to reverse the damage done by the Bush administration to women's health. In the short term, removing abstinence-only requirements in AIDS funding, and increasing foreign assistance for reproductive health -- including $1 billion for family planning -- will move us in the right direction.
In the long term, women's health must be a priority not just in theory but in practice, and across the board. Expanding access to family planning is not only good, basic health care; it saves women's lives. The State Department needs to ensure that women's health is a core component of development and relief efforts. We need to work with our allies in Congress, the Treasury Department, and overseas development offices to ensure that financial pledges for women's health are fulfilled and that funding is used efficiently. And members of the U.S. Foreign Service need training on how the U.S. government's approach to women's health worldwide will change with the new administration. Ambassadors should be sent a clear message that their efforts should be driven by need and evidence -- not ideology -- and they should be encouraged to make women's health a priority in their country programs.
Women's health and well-being are the bedrock of freedom and independence -- for individuals, families, and entire communities. Avoiding disease, having access to clean water and nutritious food, deciding whether and when to have children, and being safe in pregnancy and childbirth make women stronger and improve the quality of life for families and communities. Planned Parenthood will continue to advocate forcefully for policies that promote women's health worldwide, while helping to provide access to services and supplies for some of the world's most vulnerable people.
Just a few days after he's taken office, we can clearly say that thanks to President Obama, it truly is a new day for women's health. And as we usher in a new president committed to women's health, a cheer is going up around the world in celebration.
|
Obama Will Not Use Roe V. Wade Anniversary To Overturn 'Mexico City' Policy
The Brody File has learned that President Obama WILL NOT issue an executive order today that would have reversed a Bush administration policy which bans...
|
|
Obama To Lift 'Gag Rule', Restore Funding For Family Planning Groups
WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama will issue an order restoring U.S. funding for international family-planning groups involved with abortion. But he chose not to do...
|
|
Obama Signs Order Ending Abortion 'Gag Rule'
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama on Friday struck down the Bush administration's ban on giving federal money to international groups that perform abortions or provide...
|
|
Obama's Third Day: Missile Strikes, Abortion 'Gag Rule', Stimulus Package, First Ethics Exception
On Friday, his third day in office, Obama signed an executive order lifting what is known as the abortion 'gag rule'. From the AP: President...
|
|
Why Pro-Life Obama Supporters Should Be Disappointed
Obama's pro-life supporters are claiming to be pleased that he at least waited a day before reportedly repealing the Mexico City "gag rule." If I were them, I'd be disappointed.
|
|
President Obama's Call for Common Ground on Abortion Reduction
I hope that this important gesture signals the beginning of a new approach and a new path toward finding some real solutions to decrease the number of abortions in this country and around the world.
|
I was thinking about the catch-22 of the poor. And the reason for the we can't please conservatives no matter what ..is because they don't want you to exist, except as slaves to them.
Think about it..the argument against funding sex education that would prevent unwanted pregnancy, yet..the argument against funding contraception that would prevent unwanted pregnancy, the argument against abortions...yet the argument against assistance to woman and children or families, the argument against education or job training, the argument against public education funding, the argument against health care.
So they are saying don't exist at our expense..but we will not allow you to prevent reproduction at our expense..abort or give birth at our expense, raise that child at our expense...but we will happily imprison both you and your child at our expense.
What they want is more slaves and they want to do everything possible to where 'slavery' is an acceptable solution.
This slavery ..free labor..has been the theme throughout every political division.
It's inhumane to say to a woman struggling to support the family she has "Too bad, you're knocked up and you're staying that way. The rights of the unborn outweigh the interests of those already living."
It's ridiculous to insist that a frightened teenager can't choose to terminate an unintended pregnancy but CAN make the decision to either keep the baby or put the child up for adoption.
If you believe, for whatever reasons, that abortion is wrong, don't have one and teach your values to your children...but please don't try to make it a crime for a woman to make the decision that is in the best interest of her health and her family.
The rebirth of the human body insures the development of the Holy Spirit within. Foremost in the thoughts of humanity must be the will to inaugurate a change from the old to the new. The precept of producing, taught by the false teachers, has no relevance in the sight of the Almighty. The factors which remain aloft are riddled with scientific proofs. Make no authorization about what the Almighty commands when you have no knowledge of the pure, unadulterated love of the Almighty Father. The revbirth of the human is casting aside the desires of the flesh and allowing the Holy Spirit to denounce and discredit these desires and the works of the flesh. Remember, that the Spirit is strong, but the flesh is weak. God is Spirit. God is Love.
Sorry, but no matter how much religious folks think that embryos lives are more important than women's lives, I can tell you, as a woman, that that kind of belief is insulting and degrading, and has no place in the healthcare policy of a secular (sane) democracy
I also noticed a lack of gay and lesbian support for women's rights. If the issue is "gay marriage" the streets here are filled.... but when it's a woman's issue, most of the LGBT community stayed home.
I marched with Harvey Milk years ago, & he was about supporting everyone's rights. "You support me and I'll support you." That's why he was popular with the Asian community & others.
While we had a good amount of people on our side, it could have been better.
I'm a guy - I'll never have to choose.
For me, it's the fact that CHURCHES tell people it's a sin to use birth control, then they oppose abortions. Again, it all goes back to religion... big yuk !
Data from Lawrence Finer, et al, "Reasons U.S. Women Have Abortions:
Quantitative and Qualitative Perspectives,"Perspectives on Sexual and
Reproductive Health, Vol. 37, No. 3 (Sept., 2005), p. 110.
How many people do you know who have adopted unwanted babies?
My gay buddy's adopted 3 babies, who were born to a "crack mother".
He's walking the walk.
80,000 unnecessary deaths. I lay them at Bush's feet right next to the deaths of the thousands of our military members, contract workers, and civilians in the bogus war he started by invading Iraq.
Second, if you have a baby logically it could not have been an aborted fetus. So it would not be "for the most part" -it would not have occurred. What were you trying to say here?
You can't find enough people willing to adopt children to find homes for all the orphans in the world.
Woman are not baby manufacturing machines for childless couples.