End the Global Gag Rule
The Global Gag Rule is an anti-choice policy that’s been instated by every Republican administration since Ronald Reagan. Learn about this harmful policy and how it can finally be stopped for good.
What is the Global Gag Rule?
The Global Gag Rule blocked U.S. federal funding for non-governmental organizations that provided abortion counseling, advocated to decriminalize abortion or offered abortion services. This policy was instated in 1984 by Ronald Reagan. Historically it has been revoked by Democratic presidents and re-enacted under Republican presidents.
It’s known as a ‘gag rule’ because it has a silencing effect. While in effect, it created confusion for healthcare providers and suppressed healthcare information that women need. Some organizations were scared to refer women to safe abortion services, even in cases where it would have been permitted, such as rape, incest, or to save a woman’s life. Some NGOs even ended all advocacy work out of fear it could end their funding.
The US is the largest government donor of healthcare funding worldwide. Every year, it provides tens of billions of funding to health and humanitarian causes around the world. That means that thousands of organizations and millions of people rely on US funding to provide and access essential healthcare. Because of the Global Gag Rule, many of them lost access to care they depended on.
The policy was at its strictest under the Trump administration. Previously the Global Gag Rule specifically restricted US family planning funds, worth approximately $575 million. But in 2017, Trump expanded the policy to extend restrictions to an estimated $8.8 billion in US global health assistance. This included family planning, HIV/AIDS and STD testing. The dramatic expansion undermined progress in improving healthcare around the world. It especially harmed women and girls in low- and middle-income countries, who depend on NGOs for healthcare.
Didn’t Biden repeal the Global Gag Rule?
Biden rescinded the Global Gag Rule on January 28th, 2021, as one of his first acts in office. But without legislation, future Republican presidents will be able to reinstate it. This constant back-and-forth harms women.
Since 1984, the policy has been imposed and repealed seven times. That’s nearly four decades of women gaining access to healthcare, only to see it taken away with the next election. Real women’s health is being used as a political football.
Project 2025, a presidential transition plan created by the Heritage Foundation, proposes expanding the Global Gag Rule even further. Project 2025’s expanded Global Gag Rule would apply not just to foreign NGOs who receive funds from the United States, but also foreign governments.
The expanded Global Gag Rule would extend to tens of billions more in federal funding. It would reshape US foreign assistance around the single goal of denying abortion care to women in developing countries. The humanitarian sector—health aid to the most vulnerable women and girls—would be most affected.
What are the effects of the Global Gag Rule?
The Global Gag Rule forces NGOs to choose between receiving U.S. funding or providing comprehensive reproductive healthcare. The results are disastrous. Programs are forced to close, and women lose access to contraception, abortion and STD testing.
At MSI, we knew we couldn’t agree to the terms of the Global Gag Rule. In 2017, when Trump reinstated it, we forfeited $30 million in annual USAID funding, because a woman’s right to choose for herself if and when to have a child is essential to her autonomy.
Over Trump’s full term, the $120 million forfeited would have allowed MSI to serve an estimated 8 million more women with family planning. This would have prevented an estimated 6 million unintended pregnancies, 1.8 million unsafe abortions and 20,000 maternal deaths.
For example, in Madagascar, we were forced to end support to over 100 public and 90 private health facilities. We also had to reduce outreach services, limiting access for rural women. Research from Columbia University found that cuts led to facility closures, supply shortages and a drop in contraceptive use. Women were unable to access their chosen method and unintended pregnancies and unsafe abortions increased. In fact, studies have shown that all abortions, unsafe and safe, increased when the Global Gag Rule was in effect.
Read more about how the repeal of the Global Gag Rule impacted our programs in Nepal >>
