Washington Post: Letters to the Editor: Trump brings the ‘global gag rule’ on abortion home to America
Brian Dixon, senior vice president of the Population Connection Action Fund

“The May 21 editorial ‘A blow to low-income women’ rightfully condemned the ‘domestic gag rule,’ the Trump administration’s latest attempt to defund Planned Parenthood under the guise of improving women’s health. It’s ridiculous; gag rules strip women of their right to the full range of health care options. … Mr. Trump’s global gag rule has led clinics around the world to close, leaving vulnerable women to seek back-alley abortions. Maternal mortality rates are likely set to skyrocket, and the Trump administration is so pleased that it wants a gag rule stateside. Gag rules are designed to hurt women, and they do so with devastating efficiency…” (5/27).

HuffPost: The U.S. Exported Deadly Anti-Choice Policy Abroad. Now It’s Coming Home.
Alice Driver, freelance journalist, translator, and author

“…Trump proposed a domestic version of the gag rule … that would withhold Title X family planning funds from programs and facilities that perform abortions. It would also prohibit medical providers that receive these federal funds from informing patients where they can obtain safe, legal abortion. One only needs to look to the effects of the global gag rule on women around the world to predict the damage a domestic gag rule would have. This policy has closed clinics and diverted funds away from the ones that remain open. All this means fewer — or no — facilities providing health care for women. The impact is especially acute in rural areas and underserved communities. … The proposed domestic gag rule is not merely a matter of abortion … This policy would deny entire communities a wide range of lifesaving health care services” (5/23).