Thomson Reuters Foundation: Trust a grandmother: Trump’s chance to learn from gag rule’s past mistakes

Judy Kahrl, member of the Board of Directors of Pathfinder International and founder of Grandmothers for Reproductive Rights (GRR)

“…With the stroke of a pen, President Donald Trump may undo vital reproductive health progress by imposing the global ‘gag rule’ — a punitive, short-sighted measure which has dire implications for millions of women around the world. The global gag rule denies foreign organizations which receive U.S. family planning assistance the right to use their own funding to provide services, referrals, or even information related to legal abortion. This means even in countries where abortion is permitted by law, local health practitioners who receive U.S. funds are prohibited from mentioning abortion as a medical option to their patients … If President Trump brings back the gag rule (also known as the Mexico City policy), clinics overseas, many in remote and impoverished areas, may have to choose between receiving U.S. aid or providing comprehensive sexual and reproductive health care. … We cannot turn back the clock on women around the world…” (1/22).