On Halloween--next Wednesday--the House Foreign Affairs Committee will hold a hearing on the Global Gag Rule, the Bush administration's policy of withholding money from overseas health and family planning NGOs (non-governmental organizations) that dare to mention to women that abortion exists and might be an option.

78,000 women die every year from unsafe abortion

But Bush's Global Gag Rule prohibits

foreign organizations--often the only health-care providers in remote, rural areas--from using their own, non-U.S. funds for:

* providing legal abortions even where a woman's physical or mental health is endangered (the only exceptions are in cases of rape, incest, or where the woman's life is endangered);
* providing advice and information regarding the availability and benefits of abortion and from providing referrals to another health clinic;
* lobbying their own governments to legalize abortion, to maintain current law and oppose restrictions, or to decriminalize abortion; and
* conducting public education campaigns regarding abortion.

In addition, even the provision of services that are "permitted" on paper, such as life-saving abortions and post-abortion care, are often curtailed because NGOs fear jeopardizing their funding through any association with abortion.

It isn't just Bush--it's the fucking Republicans and their fucking hatred of women's health and reproductive needs. Reagan was the first to pass the "Mexico City Policy", or Global Gag Rule, which was upheld by Bush senior, repealed under Clinton, and reinstated by the Shrub. It's called the "Gag Rule" because it prohibits women's health and family planning organizations from even *discussing* abortion--even when the funds that support abortion counselling or referrals come from non-US sources.

In effect, the Republicans and their masters in the Religious Right are using the power of the US's role and money to keep foreign reproductive rights organizations and women's clinics--which unfortunately rely on US funds--from setting their own policies and serving their own citizens.

If, like me and every other decent human being on the planet, you think this kind of bullying sexist pro-dead-women bullshit needs to stop, you can go here to download a petition saying so. Sign it and spend 41 cents to mail your copy by this Friday to:

NARAL Pro-Choice America
1156 15th Street, NW Suite 700
Washington, DC 20005

NARAL will send you a pen for your trouble and forward the signed petitions on to Congress.

Let the bastards know you're paying attention.

Bitch_PhD really hates those bastard Republicans.

emotedcreations

Germany

July 2006

OCT 22, 2007 04:39 PM

Sweet...

SurlyZombie

Portland, OR

September 2006

OCT 22, 2007 04:40 PM

Hear hear.

-D

Heigai

Columbus, OH

May 2004

OCT 22, 2007 04:43 PM

In an attempt to find the silver lining I will say that this is exactly the kind of issue that loses the dastardly Republicans votes. The people who want safe abortion totally outlawed don't move their vote, but the people who thought they wanted fiscal conservatism and lower taxes suddenly have to deal with women dying in other countries because some people here are way into Jebus.