The Damaging Effects of the Global Gag Rule
Washington, DC - October 15, 2007“The impact [of the Global Gag Rule in Ghana] was immediate, deep and damaging,” — Matilda Owusu-Ansah of the Planned Parenthood Association of Ghana (PPAG).
At a heavily attended briefing in Congress last week, renowned experts Dr. Joachim Osur, of the Ipas African Alliance, and Matilda Owusu-Ansah, formally of the Planned Parenthood Association of Ghana (PPAG), addressed the damaging effects of the Global Gag Rule—highlighting the real, direct, and, more often than not, deadly impact of this policy in their respective countries.
According to Ms. Owusu-Ansah, PPAG, the largest provider of family planning services before imposition of the Global Gag Rule, lost all USAID family planning funding. Within one year, their condom distribution fell by 40%. With limited access to reproductive health supplies and services, the number of unintended pregnancies increased dramatically, as well as the number of new sexually transmitted infections.
In Kenya, the effects of the Global Gag Rule have been equally detrimental. When the policy was reinstated, Dr. Osur was working for the Family Planning Association of Kenya (FPAK). When FPAK refused to sign, they immediately lost 58% of its annual budget. These budget cuts forced the closure of eight of FPAK’s 16 clinics, leaving 100,000 women without access to reproductive health services—including the contraceptives that would help them avoid unintended pregnancies, abortion and STIs.
According to the Bush administration, the Global Gag Rule was reinstated in 2001 to prevent abortions worldwide. In reality, the effect has been quite the opposite. In addition to creating contraceptive shortfalls and closing reproductive health clinics, Ms. Owusu-Ansah reported that PPAG saw at 50% increase in the number of women who came to their clinics for post-abortion care. By denying access to reproductive health services and contraceptives, the number of unintended pregnancies grew, often leading to abortion.
Our African colleagues gave this Congressional audience a sobering wake-up call: Women are dying from causes that, with the use of contraceptives and other family planning services, are preventable. While Congress voted to repeal this deadly policy in the State-Foreign Operations Appropriations bill, the President is threatening to veto it, perpetuating the Russian roulette these women play with their lives each day they are denied access to family planning. Mr. President, we urge you to sign this bill. It’s time to give reproductive health back to the hundreds of millions of women whose lives literally depend on it.
Population Action International (PAI) works to improve individual well-being and preserve global resources by mobilizing political and financial support for population, family planning and reproductive health policies and programs.
