The Global Gag Rule will not stop us
“We will not stand down. We will not sign the Global Gag Rule. Women’s reproductive rights are not negotiable.”
– Simon Cooke, MSI Reproductive Choices CEO
Donald Trump has signed the Global Gag Rule. The world’s most vulnerable women and girls will bear the burden—losing access to life-saving reproductive healthcare, safe abortion services, and contraception.
We will not stand by and let this happen.
MSI Reproductive Choices has never and will never sign the Global Gag Rule.
We will continue to serve women, regardless of political agendas, because the stakes are too high. When the Global Gag Rule was last enforced, in 2017, it cut MSI’s funding by $120 million, impacting 8 million women globally. With that funding, MSI services could have prevented an additional 6 million unintended pregnancies, 1.8 million unsafe abortions, and 20,000 maternal deaths. Now, with the threat of its expansion under Project 2025, it is not just a policy—it is a direct assault on the reproductive rights of millions.
“The Global Gag Rule will have a devastating impact on millions of women for years to come, depriving them of the contraception they need. It is the world’s poorest women and girls who will pay the price, with lives lost because they are unable to safely space their pregnancies or because they have no option but to resort to unsafe abortion. No one should have to pay such a terrible cost for trying to determine their own future.”
– Sanou Gning, Director, MSI Reproductive Choices
A Direct Attack on Women’s Health
The Global Gag Rule, introduced by Ronald Reagan and reinstated by every Republican administration, has always been a political weapon. Its intention is clear: deny women around the world access to information and services that could save their lives. The rule blocks US government funding for organizations like MSI if they even mention abortion as an option, let alone provide it. It’s not about preventing abortions—it’s about preventing women from controlling their own bodies and futures.
Click here for our briefing on the impacts of the Global Gag Rule
The Global Gag Rule is counterproductive and deadly
Despite its claimed goal of reducing abortion, studies—like those from Guttmacher—show the Gag Rule only makes legal abortion unsafe and inaccessible. It stifles progress, blocks access to contraception, and drives women to unsafe, illegal abortion methods. Reinstating this policy will not just reverse gains made in global reproductive health—it could send us back decades.
Click here to learn more about the expanded Global Gag Rule
“As a global abortion provider, we know that there will also be dire consequences for women far beyond the borders of the United States, starting with his signature on the global gag rule. This ideologically driven policy undermines the very goals of U.S. foreign assistance, by putting women at risk, violating medical principles and trampling on democratic values. Worse still, Project 2025 proposes expanding this in an unprecedented way to US-based NGOs and to all foreign assistance – including those working in humanitarian contexts, where sexual violence escalates.”
– Beth Schlachter, Senior Director of US External Relations
For women like Modester, MSI’s services are a lifeline.
Modester is just 20 years old. She lives in rural Zimbabwe, a place where access to contraception is scarce and healthcare is hard to come by. When Modester needed a contraceptive implant after having her first child, MSI’s outreach clinic was her only option. She says: “Contraception enables us to let our children grow, giving them adequate love and care. If MSI Zimbabwe weren’t here, we would be suffering.”
Because of the Global Gag Rule, women like Modester will be left with no options. And that is simply unacceptable.
Wellington Chundu is a team leader of one of MSI Zimbabwe’s outreach teams that is funded by USAID. He travels into remote communities to provide contraception and counselling.
Speaking about the risk that they will have to stop their services, he said,
“I feel we would have betrayed these communities. The families, the women and their kids.”
