Through Global Gag Rule, Bush Administration Engages In Egregious Oppression of Personal Liberties

On his first day in office in January 2001, President Bush reinstated the Global Gag rule, or Mexico City policy, a Reagan-era provision that denies the world's poorest women access to birth control measures. Specifically, the gag rule restricts foreign NGOs that receive U.S. family planning funds "from using their own, non-U.S. funds to provide legal abortion services, lobby their own governments for abortion law reform, or even provide accurate medical counseling or referrals regarding abortion."

In a hearing before the House Foreign Affairs Committee last week, activists a combination of restrictive access to contraception and limited information about women's options is creating tens of thousands of unwanted pregnancies among the world's poor. Joana Nerquaye-Tetteh formerly of Planned Parenthood Association of Ghana said that after the gag rule was implemented, PPAG lost $600,000 in funding from the U.S. We can prevent 52 million unwanted pregnancies if we fill the need for contraception, according to Rep. Nita Lowey (D-NY).

The gag rule is also a question of free expression. Currently, our foreign dollars are being used as a vector to impose a right-wing ideological standard, stating that foreign women should not benefit from abortion and contraceptive rights. Dr. Duff Gillespie of Johns Hopkins University testified yesterday that as a former USAID employee, he was coerced by the administration on discussion of reproductive rights in papers; he added that the government heavily stifled discourse on the matter. Such efforts are consistent with the political efforts of the White House push a right-wing agenda onto science.