Countries pledge millions to plug hole left by US 'global gag rule'

Guardian

Countries pledge millions to plug hole left by US 'global gag rule'

Brussels conference hopes to raise $600m for safe abortions worldwide after Trump administration reinstated US funding ban

Jennifer Rankin in Brussels and agencies
Thursday 2 March 2017 07.19 EST

Countries have pledged tens of millions for family planning schemes in developing countries to plug a gap left by Donald Trump’s ban on US funding to groups linked to abortion.

About 50 governments are attending the hastily convened She Decides conference in Brussels on Thursday, with early pledges closing in on $100m (£80m).

Sweden promised $22m and Finland $21m to compensate for the reinstated “global gag rule”, which bans US funding for NGOs that provide abortion or information on the procedure to women in developing countries.

The UK has sent the international development minister, Rory Stewart, to the one-day conference, but it remains unclear if the government will announce a financial contribution.

Organisers hope to raise $600m. “This is not a conference against the American administration; this is a conference for something,” Sweden’s deputy prime minister, Isabella Lövin, told the Guardian.

“We are expressing our strong support for women’s rights, for the progress that has been made. Access to contraceptives and sexual reproduction is a vehicle for development and the eradication of poverty.”

More:

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2017/mar/02/countries-to-join-forces-to-raise-funds--safe-abortions-trump-order-conference-global-gag-rule



Read more
'Global gag rule': stop playing politics with women's lives, MSF tells Trump


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SCROTUS went farther than past misogynistic presidents. He cuts funding for free speech—clinic can't even mention abortion as an available option. His own snakeoil has destroyed brain cell dealing with rational thought. He's on record in the past as anti-abortion but pro-choice, just like all rational, responsible people are.


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