What was the Global Gag Rule?
By signing an executive order within days of taking office President Obama rescinded the nefarious Global Gag Rule, overturning a Republican era ban on U.S. funding for international groups who provide abortion-related services. The executive order ends the ban on federal government funding's for international groups that are in any way involved with abortion services, including counseling.
Critics called the ban the "global gag rule" because it forbade medical providers from even using the word "abortion," a source of contention for free speech advocates.
Advocates for women's health in the developing world contend that the Global Gag Rule not only adversely affected abortion services, but also ruptured the ability of clinics to distribute contraceptives and other preventative health information.
According to Carmen Barroso, director of the International Planned Parenthood Federation Western Hemisphere, whose organization has received no U.S. money since 2001, "With less money, family planning associations are less able to provide the services to the people who are most vulnerable, who most need it, because they cannot afford to pay for services," she said. "So family planning programs help women to avoid unwanted pregnancies and therefore avoid the need for abortion. So if anybody is against abortion, they should also be against this [Global Gag Rule] policy."
The policy has been reinstated and then reversed by Republican and Democratic presidents since President Ronald Reagan established it in 1984. President Bill Clinton ended the ban in 1993, but President George W. Bush re-imposed it in 2001 as one of his first acts in office.
This page last updated June 15, 2009 19:04 .