Trump has passed many executive orders since his inauguration, several of which have faced criticism from Democrats and Republicans alike. One of his most controversial executive orders is the Mexico City Policy, known as the “global gag” rule. The original Mexico City Policy of 1984 stated that “United States will no longer contribute to separate non-governmental organizations which perform or actively promote abortion as a method of family planning in other nations.” This law originated during Reagan’s presidency and has been rescinded by Democrats and reinstated by Republicans ever since.
Trump’s reinstatement of this rule is ironic and contradictory. Taxpayer money is already prohibited from going towards abortion as a result of the Helms Amendment. The Mexico City Policy instead prevents U.S. from funding non-abortion related services provided by NGOs that offer abortions. Furthermore, Trump states that all global health organizations must disavow any relation or affiliation to abortion in order to receive federal funding. According to Sneha Barot of the The Guttmacher Institute, “Health providers have been forced to fire staff, reduce their services or even close their clinics altogether.”
The effects of this policy are atrocious. As Emily Crockett of VOX writes, this “will affect not just contraception access and abortion rates but also maternal health care, HIV/AIDS testing and treatment, and Zika virus prevention and treatment.” Banning federal funding to these NGOs will lead to the closure of many clinics which provide safe sex education, family counselling, preventative methods for birth defects, and treatment of life-threatening sexually-transmitted infections.
International medical group EngenderHealth reported the negative effects in the countries most impacted by this rule such as Kenya, Nepal, and Zambia, explaining that medical assistance that is unrelated to abortion such as HIV and malaria services is greatly compromised. Instead of achieving its goal of banning abortion, this poorly organized policy harms many underprivileged women, men, and children. The Trump administration has acted carelessly with no consideration for how their policy will affect international health care.
Ironically, while this rule is meant to outlaw abortion, there is no correlation between the reinstatement of the policy and a decrease in abortion. Instead, the gag rule has been proved to increase the number of abortions, more often unsafe and dangerous versions of the previously nearly risk-free procedure. A Stanford study argues for this and writes, “If women consider abortion as a way to prevent unwanted births, then policies curtailing the activities of organizations that provide modern contraceptives may inadvertently lead to an increase in the abortion rate.”
As clinics close in developing countries, the access to safe contraceptives is also reduced, resulting in dangerous measures to combat the increase in unwanted pregnancy. Women resort to brutal actions such as self-induced hypothermia, taking extreme hits to the abdomen which often result in hemorrhages, and consumption of toxic material. These appalling yet widely spread methods of ending a pregnancy are byproducts of the Mexico City Policy, leading to an increase in maternal death.
President Trump’s executive order threatens medical services and forces women to resort to life-threatening measures in order to end their pregnancies. The Mexico City Policy is an irresponsible attempt at promoting the idea of life at conception. In reality, it will do nothing but bring irreversible harm to innocent families around the world.
