BY REBECCA DENNIS | It’s been a year since the Biden administration announced the rescission of the global gag rule (GGR), but a nasty hangover of its harmful effects remains. The only way to ensure we, as a global community, don’t end up in this situation again is for Congress to take action to permanently bring an end to this policy.
PAI surveyed civil society organizations and implementing nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, Uganda and Zambia, and the evidence was clear: The stroke of a pen does not undo the harm of a policy designed to deny women access to comprehensive reproductive health services. Qualified and highly skilled foreign NGOs that lost funding and partnerships remain unable to reopen shuttered clinics, rehire staff or bring back key services lost due to noncompliance with the policy. High stockouts of family planning supplies at facilities are leaving women without access, as programs that offered buffer stock and distribution of commodities remain disrupted. Projects serving vulnerable communities including youth, people living with HIV/AIDS and rural populations that were abruptly closed may never be restored, leaving those groups without vital services.
The back and forth of the GGR has a chilling effect on family planning and reproductive health programs. When the GGR is in effect, NGOs that comply with the policy are required to not provide information, referrals or services for legal abortion or to advocate for the legalization of abortion in their country with their own non-U.S. funds. It inadvertently pits organizations working to provide comprehensive health care against one another. Service providers, advocates and donors who were divided along the lines of compliance versus noncompliance may be cautiously reapproaching each other to rebuild relationships and networks but many report they are hesitant to collaborate out of fear the policy will return.
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