:: UCLA TODAY Home

©2004
The Regents of the University of California
 

what's on my mind

The global gag rule: Why we should care

BY PAULA TAVROW

The American system of checks and balances prevents presidents from enacting policy without the consent of Congress. However, in certain matters, such as withholding foreign aid, presidents can exercise executive privilege. When President George W. Bush took office in 2001, his first act was to reinstate the “global gag rule.” It mandates that no foreign agencies may receive U.S. assistance if they provide abortion services, including counseling or referrals on abortion, or lobby to make or keep abortion legal in their own country — even if they fund any of these activities on their own.

This rule is sometimes called the “Mexico City” policy because the concept was first proposed there by President Ronald Reagan at a 1984 conference. When President Bill Clinton took office in 1993, his first act was to revoke the policy. Not many Americans are aware of the global gag rule’s existence. Yet it communicates forcefully to the rest of the world that the U.S. government is totally opposed to women in developing countries having access to safe abortions — even if they are the survivors of rape or incest.

Since we have liberal abortion laws in the nation, the global gag rule creates an excruciating double standard for those of us who work overseas. For example, in the late 1980s, while I was working as the health officer for USAID/Tanzania, I attended a meeting to decide on how a local women’s health network should focus one of its campaigns. The network, consisting almost entirely of Tanzanian women health professionals, agreed that they wanted to raise awareness of the perils of unsafe abortion. They considered this a first step in reforming Tanzania’s abortion laws.

I was compelled to tell the group that it would not receive any more USAID funds if it worked on reforming abortion laws. “But isn’t abortion legal in your country?” a Tanzanian doctor asked. When I replied that it was, she exclaimed: “So why don’t you want it to be legal in our country? Do you want our daughters to continue to die from unsafe abortions?” I had never felt more ashamed to be an American.

The global gag rule also has serious ramifications for family planning services in poor countries. Organizations such as the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) have experienced major budget cuts. IPPF provides critical contraceptive supplies and training to Planned Parenthood affiliates in many developing countries, most of which do not provide abortions or referrals. However, because of reductions of support from IPPF, some have been forced to downsize. As a result, half the contraceptive distribution points in various African nations have shut down since President Bush took office. How ironic that the global gag rule could actually lead to more abortions!

On a recent trip to Kenya, a local gynecologist/obstetrician told me that he estimates that about 190 Kenyan women have died as a result of President Bush’s re-imposition of the global gag rule. “Most Americans don’t even know where Kenya is on the map,” he remarked sadly. “But your election is a life-or-death issue for us.” It’s something to ponder when we go to the polls in November.

Tavrow, a visiting associate professor at the School of Public Health, is director of the school’s Bixby Program in Population and Reproductive Health.