This is what patriarchy looks like. A group of white men look on as Trump signs the #GlobalGagRule – it is no exaggeration that women are going to die from this.
The rule reinstates a 1984 law that cuts funding to any organization that even mentions abortion. It will prevent women in developing countries from accessing safe reproductive health care.
“A 20-country study from 2011 found abortion rates actually *increased* 40% the last time #GlobalGagRule was in place.”
The two major family planning partners of USAID, Marie Stopes International (MSI) and the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), will refuse to sign.
These organizations integrate HIV prevention into maternal and reproductive health.
“The Lesotho Planned Parenthood Association, for example, had received 426,000 condoms from USAID over two years during the Clinton administration. Once the gag rule went back into effect, USAID had to end condom shipments to Lesotho entirely because the association was the only available conduit for condoms in that country. At that time, one in four women in Lesotho was infected with HIV.”
Anyone with friends who come from Africa knows how devastating it is when they go back for a visit and find out how many of their girlhood friends have died from AIDS.
Gender Desk 