Two more ways to make a difference in global health - Defend reproductive rights

by Alanna Shaikh · 2009-01-12 21:04:00 UTC
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Intense-looking mother and child

(photo credit: This is Public Health - Dinah Dafeamekpor)

Advocate for the end of the Mexico City policy

In the US, advocate for the end of the Mexico City Policy. The Mexico City Policy began with Ronald Regan in 1984, and it denies funding to any organization that the US government has found to support abortion or discussion of abortion. To be clear, it is not just that the policy denies US government funding to abortion. It denies US government funding to any organization that provides or supports abortion with non-US government money or even has the nerve to talk about abortion as an option.

Opponents of the Mexico City Policy (like me) often refer to it as the global gag rule, because of the way it forbids organizations to discuss abortion as an option. While theoretically the policy has exceptions for the life and health of a mother, in practice most NGOs are so afraid of running afoul of the rule and losing all their funding forever, that no discussion of abortion is permitted.

Write to your senator or congressperson and tell them that the global gag rule is bad for women and the human race, and sign Engender Health's petition to President-Elect Obama.

Advocate for support to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)

For the last seven years, the Bush administration has denied funding to UNFPA, claiming that UNFPA supports forced sterilizations. They claimed this despite the fact that a US fact-finding mission found that it wasn't true.

Write to your senator or congressperson, and ask them to restore funding to UNFPA. And support the 34 million friends of UNFPA campaign, which is trying to replace lost US government funding with donations from regular Americans. You can donate to Americans for UNFPA in support of the 34 million friends campaign.

We are expecting both the end of the Mexico City policy and the restoration of funding to UNFPA to come quickly in the Obama presidency. Major policy change, however, is never guaranteed, and we want complete reversal on both items. Make your voice heard.

Alanna Shaikh
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