Lawmakers oppose Trump Administration plan to expand Global Gag Rule

WASHINGTON, D.C. – More than 140 members of the U.S. House of Representatives – led by U.S. Reps. Diana DeGette (D-CO) and Nita Lowey (D-NY) – sent a letter today to the U.S. Agency for International Development, the Department of State and Department of Health and Human Services expressing their opposition to the administration's plan to expand the so-called Global Gag Rule, which prohibits foreign organizations that receive U.S. global health assistance from providing information, referrals, or services for abortion care.

The letter comes as part of a 60-day public comment period the federal government recently opened up to solicit feedback on the administration's proposal to expand its prohibition on discussing or providing abortion care to patients to all global health contracts.

"No organization should be forced to choose between providing patients with access to life-saving medical care or accepting U.S. aid that they need to stay open," said DeGette, who serves as co-chair of the Congressional Pro-Choice Caucus. "The Global Gag Rule is nothing more than another dangerous attempt to eliminate women's rights to reproductive care worldwide and should be withdrawn immediately."

"This administration's expanded Global Gag Rule has gravely diminished the effectiveness of U.S. foreign assistance, silenced medical professionals, threatened the health of the world's most vulnerable women at an unprecedented level, and has forced clinics to choose between providing limited reproductive health services while accepting U.S. foreign aid or providing inclusive family planning and reproductive health care with a limited budget," said Lowey.

The lawmakers noted that the State Department's own review of the Global Gag Rule, which was released in August 2020, showed serious disruptions to global health programming. Organizations have reported receiving little guidance from the U.S. government on how the rule should be implemented, leading some to overreach the policy's restrictions out of fear and uncertainty of being out of compliance.

In opposing the administration's proposal to expand the rule further, the lawmakers stressed that expanding the policy would likely produce more confusion and negatively impact the availability of health services around the world.

The lawmakers emphasized that now, during an unprecedented global pandemic, is not the time to expand a policy that threatens to limit access to vital health care programs, including those related to treating and preventing the spread of COVID-19.

A copy of the lawmakers' letter is available here.