Marie Stopes International hails Obama decision to end 'gag rule'
London: Marie Stopes International (MSI) applauds President Barack Obama’s decision, which he is expected to make today (23 January), to rescind the Mexico City Policy, saying it marks a turning point in the global fight to reduce the deaths of women in the developing world.
“We applaud the new Administration for rescinding a policy that has been an unmitigated disaster for the world’s poorest women,” said MSI’s chief executive Dana Hovig. “This marks the beginning of a new era of realism over dogma in serving the public health needs of women. President Obama is off to a flying start.”
The Mexico City Policy, also known as the “Global Gag Rule”, was first imposed by the Reagan Administration in 1984 and directed the United States Agency for International Development to withhold funds from foreign NGOs that provide abortion information or counselling to women or lobbied foreign governments to legalise or make abortion available. The policy had been in effect from 1985 until 1993, when it was rescinded by President Bill Clinton. President George W. Bush reinstated the policy in 2001.
“We know from available evidence that voluntary access to contraception is the best way to reduce the number of abortions in the developing world,” said Hovig. “We now have an opportunity to demonstrate this fact once and for all and put an end to the tit-for-tat politics that have played havoc with women’s lives over the past 25 years. We see this as the beginning, not the end, of our fight.”
MSI, which operates nearly 600 reproductive health clinics and hundreds more outreach teams across 43 countries, has been profoundly affected by US policy over the past eight years. Having refused to sign the “Gag Rule” on principle, MSI was denied funding that would have enabled the organisation to provide general family planning and reproductive health services, forcing the closure of MSI health centres and the withdrawal of outreach workers in some of the poorest areas of Ethiopia and Kenya.
“Over the past decade, women without access to contraception have shown up in MSI centres after experiencing an illegal or unsafe abortion,” Hovig explained. “Some drank poisonous substances, while others put bleach and sharp objects into their uterus, resulting in severe bleeding, infertility, psychological harm and often death. Whatever your view of abortion, surely we can all agree such suffering must end.”
More than half a million women die from pregnancy related causes - including unsafe abortion - every year. That is an average of 1,500 women dying each day, most of whom could be saved.
For more information or to arrange interviews, please contact Diana Thomas on 020 7034 2317 or Tony Kerridge on 020 7034 2365