FACTS ON THE GLOBAL GAG RULE (MEXICO CITY POLICY)

Feb 02, 2009

THE global gag rule, also known as the Mexico City Policy, prohibited overseas organisations from receiving family planning assistance from the US. The policy reduced access to family planning services in many developing countries and may have increased t

By Vision Reporter

THE global gag rule, also known as the Mexico City Policy, prohibited overseas organisations from receiving family planning assistance from the US. The policy reduced access to family planning services in many developing countries and may have increased the need for abortions,most of them unsafe.

According to the 2008 findings by the Guttmacher Institute, the policy was first imposed by president Reagan in 1984, rescinded by president Clinton in 1993 and then reinstated by president Bush in 2001. The Reagan, Bush I and Bush II administrations all blocked any US contribution to UNFPA on the grounds that it indirectly supported coercive abortions in China, despite US government findings, clearing UNFPA of any involvement in coercive practices.

Helping women to avoid becoming pregnant too early, too late or too often benefits them and their children. Currently, 500 million women in the developing world are using some form of family planning.

It prevents 187 million unintended pregnancies, 60 million unplanned births, 105 million induced abortions, 2.7 million infant deaths and 215,000 maternal deaths (which would leave 685,000 children motherless) each year.

A total of 200 million women throughout the developing world who would like to delay or limit their births lack access to contraceptives. Meeting this need for contraceptives would further reduce global rates of maternal mortality by 35% and would lower the overall number of abortions by 64%.

Almost 70,000 women die each year from complications following unsafe abortions, and thousands more suffer serious, permanent injuries.

Adapted from Internet

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