2009-01-27/Obama dumps “Global Gag Rule”
Obama dumps “Global Gag Rule”
By Michael de Laine, Copenhagen, 27th January 2009
Obama decided yesterday to scrap the ‘Global Gag Rule’, which stops federal funding of organisations that work in or inform about abortions, 25 years after Reagan gave birth to it.
US President Barack Obama decided yesterday to scrap the ‘Global Gag Rule’, which stops federal funding of organisations that work in or inform about abortions, 25 years after President Ronald Reagan gave birth to it.
Created in 1984, the rule was affirmed by President George W Bush in 2001 and also applied to countries where abortion is legal but difficult to obtain.
According to the Swedish Association for Sexuality Education, RFSU, one of the consequences was that organisations that also inform about HIV and supply contraceptives have had to close their operations in many developing countries.
“In practice,” RFSU says, “this has resulted in millions of women not having access to the information and service that they have needed, and that numerous women have died as a result.”
“That Barack Obama is scrapping the ‘Global Gag Rule’ is a very important step towards reduced maternal deaths,” says RFSU’s secretary-general, Åsa Regnér, who calls the news positive and long-awaited. “The USA’s extremely restrictive attitude to abortion has blocked international efforts towards political solutions in the UN, for example. The possibilities of moving forwards in terms of women’s right to decide over their own bodies have been increased considerably.”
Obama’s decision will also have an impact on the European Union, which is the world’s largest aid donor. Regnér believes that it will be much more difficult for Catholic countries such as Poland, Ireland and Malta to hide behind the mantle of US policy in their attempts to stop the work towards greater access to contraceptives and safe abortions.
Founded in 1933, RFSU is the leading organization in Sweden in the field of sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR). RFSU has no party political or religious affiliation.