![]() ![]() ![]() Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), similar language is in the Senate appropriations bill that is set to get a vote in the coming weeks. The House included permanent repeal of the policy in their 2022 appropriations bill. It’s time for Congress to permanently repeal the Global Gag Rule. health care dollars has driven some organizations to end health care activities and programs unnecessarily and avoid participation in civil society assemblies, meetings and coalitions.īecause the Biden administration knows the harmful impacts of the Global Gag Rule on health care access and democracy, the president’s National Strategy for Gender Equity and Equality calls for a permanent end to the Global Gag Rule. Fear of losing critical and irreplaceable U.S. Because access to health care is critical to participation in societies, the policy diminishes opportunities for people to work and contribute to their communities.Īs important as it is, President Biden’s repeal of the Global Gag Rule via executive action is temporary and is likely to be reversed by a future Republican administration, as has happened since 1984. This “now you can, now you can’t” presidential policymaking has contributed to a chilling effect on organizations and health care providers around the world who often over-implement the policy for fear of being found non-compliant. The policy thus exerts both direct and indirect control over the recipients’ choices about the provision of health care and in so doing diminishes access to health care for women and girls, LGBTQI+ persons, and many other vulnerable communities and individuals. The alternative is to continue to provide comprehensive health care services, including sexual and reproductive health care and counseling, and forgo all funding from the U.S. foreign assistance comes with strings attached that effectively “gag” groups and halts all existing work providing, advocating for, counseling on or providing referrals for abortion services as a method of family planning, even if those activities are funded by their own, non-U.S. foreign policy that threatens democracies around the world. But one of President Biden’s first executive actions may hold the key to one of the only paths to protecting reproductive rights during his presidency: making his repeal of the Global Gag Rule permanent. With ongoing gridlock in Congress and the ticking clock of the 2022 midterm cycle growing louder, the window of opportunity for the Biden administration to make good on their promises for democracy, gender equality and reproductive rights is closing. hosted the first-ever Summit for Democracy, during which Vice President Harris highlighted gender equality, women’s participation and reproductive rights as key to democracy, stating, “I strongly believe the status of women is the status of democracy.” Last year, the Biden administration issued the first-ever National Strategy for Gender Equity and Equalitythat prioritizes sexual and reproductive health and rights as key to achieving gender equality. From Colombia to Uruguay, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Malaysia, Cambodia, Pakistan, and most recently in Ireland, Argentina and Mexico, over the last few decades countries across the globe have liberalized abortion laws. Supreme Court are reminders of the fragile fate of two fundamental rights here at home. But while the fate of democracy and reproductive rights is at a tipping point in the U.S., there is hope around the world. The ongoing efforts to weaken voting rights across the country and the threats to Roe v. That is why sexual and reproductive health and rights are so fundamental to democracy. Access to health care-especially sexual and reproductive health care-is essential to ensuring all individuals can fully participate in their societies. The defining characteristic of a democratic society is the opportunity for all its members to fully participate economically, politically and socially. Two of the greatest crises we face as a country are inextricably linked: the threats to democracy and the threats to sexual and reproductive health care. ![]()
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