Impacts Of Expanded Mexico City Policy On Global Health Services, HIV/AIDS Efforts Unknown

The Atlantic: Will Trump’s Expanded Policy Against Abortion Harm HIV/AIDS Relief?
“[Last] week, the Trump administration moved forward with plans to withhold global health funding for [foreign] organizations that ‘perform or actively promote abortion’ abroad. This move revives an older policy that restricted funds for family planning organizations — groups that focus on things like contraception and maternal health — and goes further to apply to all global health funding. … [C]ritics say the revised version of the rule could do significant harm to PEPFAR, which has been called George W. Bush’s greatest legacy…” (Frankel, 5/19).

NPR: The Ripple Effect Of Cuts To U.S. Funds For Overseas Abortion Services
“…[The expanded policy] ‘has a bigger reach than it’s ever had before, and many of the organizations that could now be affected have never confronted it before,’ says Jennifer Kates, [vice president and] director of global health and HIV policy at the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. … It’s difficult to assess the full impact of the expanded Protecting Life in Global Health Assistance plan, partly because it’s unclear whether other donors like the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (which is a funder of NPR) will fill any gaps that occur because of the new policy. It’s also not clear how many NGOs will comply with the new policy and how many will refuse to do so. But a Kaiser Family Foundation report looking at countries that got U.S. federal funding in 2016 notes that 37 countries allowed abortions in at least one circumstance that would violate the Mexico City policy…” (Shaikh-Lesko, 5/19).

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