Felicita Hikuam

In 2017, the U.S President reinstated and expanded the Mexico City Policy to cover all US foreign health aid. Studies have documented evidence of the negative impacts of the policy on funding for and the provision of SRHR services, including the full range of HIV-related services, particularly for key populations.

The Gag Rule prohibits foreign-NGOs receiving U.S Global Health Assistance funding from performing or promoting safe abortion or providing financial support to any foreign-NGO that conducts such activities, including with non-USG funding. Preliminary assessments have found that the policy threatens women’s health and rights, reduces access to services for key populations, fragments and silences civil society, has drastically reduced their funding and fuels stigma against abortion. There has been a confusion about the implementation of the policy and an over-extension in its application. Advocacy to abolish the gag rule should be strengthened but organsiations should also make use of opportunities presented by an affirmative defence provision in the policy, which can be used in the appropriate contexts to continue providing abortion-related information and services. In response to the gag rule, Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands and Sweden launched SheDecides and increased their contribution to SRHR by 22 million Euros.

“The expansion brought in a whole new set of NGOs and actors of civil society groups that really had to familiarise themselves with the policy and what this meant,” Jennifer Kates of the Kaiser Family Foundation. In addition to reducing resources for NGOs to expand HIV and SRHR services, the expansion and reach of the gag rule is also interfering with the relationship between local organisations and their governments, particularly efforts by NGOs to push governments for the provision comprehensive SRHR services including access to safe abortions.