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By Shoshanna Ehrlich | Rep. Lois Frankel (D-Fla.) is the lead sponsor of the recently introduced Global Health, Empowerment, and Rights (HER) Act. The Global HER Act would permanently repeal the global gag rule—also known as the Mexico City Policy—which prohibits international NGOs from receiving U.S. funding if they provide, promote or even share information about abortion (and even if they use their own resources to do so). Opponents use the word “gag” because the provision silences what organizations can say about abortion.
The House legislation was co-introduced with Reps. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), Ami Bera (D-Calif.), Grace Meng (D-N.Y.) and Norma Torres (D-Calif.); Sens. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) introduced companion legislation in the Senate.
Since it was implemented by President Ronald Reagan in 1984, the global gag rule has been repeatedly repealed and reinstated by executive action, depending upon the president’s party affiliation. Most recently, after a four-year reprieve under the Biden administration, it was reinstated by President Donald Trump during his first week in office—a decision Frankel condemned as a “cruel and dangerous move backward.”
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