Global Health NOW: The Trumped Up Gag Rule and Women’s Health “One of U.S. President Trump’s first moves in office was signing an executive order to bring back the Mexico City policy, also known as the global gag rule. … Trump took the gag rule a step further: he expanded…

Thomson Reuters Foundation: “Medicalization” of female genital mutilation is serious threat — experts “A growing trend for midwives and nurses to carry out female genital mutilation (FGM) is undermining global efforts to eradicate the internationally condemned practice, experts have warned. Morissanda Kouyate head of the Inter-African Committee on Traditional Practices…

Agence France-Presse: Female genital cutting has ‘evolutionary’ drive: study “The widely condemned practice of ceremonial genital mutilation among girls and young women follows an evolutionary logic, according to a provocative study published Monday. Understanding this logic — which the researchers described as ‘cultural,’ not biological — may help fulfill the…

New York Times: The Global Gag Rule Adrienne Germaine, president emerita of the International Women’s Health Coalition “…President Trump’s executive order reimposing and widening the ‘global gag rule’ violates not only women’s right to health but also their right to life. … In 1994, with strong American leadership, 179 governments…

National Geographic: Opinion: Want to Empower Women Worldwide? Give Them Access to Contraceptives Melinda Gates, co-founder of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation “…When women are able to plan their pregnancies around their goals for themselves and their families, they are also better able to finish their education, earn an…

Rewire: How Nikki Haley’s Ambassador Appointment Threatens the Spirit and Intent of the U.N. Gillian Kane, senior policy adviser for Ipas, discusses President Trump’s appointment of Nikki Haley as ambassador to the U.N., describing her stance on abortion and what it could mean for U.S. involvement in global family planning…

The Star: Expect a rise in backstreet abortions, health experts warn “…The Mexico City Policy requires that all foreign organizations that receive U.S. government funding neither perform nor speak about abortion. This means that NGOs must forfeit all U.S. government aid if they so much as tell a woman abortion…

The Lancet: The Trump global gag rule: an attack on U.S. family planning and global health aid Ann M. Starrs, president and CEO of the Guttmacher Institute “…Under [U.S. President] Trump’s [executive order reinstating the Mexico City policy], the gag rule now applies not only to U.S. bilateral family planning…

The Guardian: Abortion in Pakistan: struggling to support a woman’s right to choose “…Saba Ismail, co-founder of the Pakistani women’s group Aware Girls, launched an abortion hotline in June 2010. Aware Girls has received USAID funding in the past but now will have to depend on grants from European foundations…

Washington Post: The Trump administration threatens to imperil women’s health worldwide Editorial Board “Some say the ‘Mexico City policy’ — a restriction on U.S. funds to international organizations that provide, advise, or discuss abortions — looks like a game of ping-pong. Republican administrations implement the rule, and Democratic ones volley…