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 recognized that tens of thousands of women die and millions more suffer lifelong disability and infertility from unsafe abortions every year worldwide. These governments agreed to make sex education and reproductive health care, including safe legal abortion, available to women and adolescents. They have reaffirmed that agreement at the United Nations virtually every year since, and all but three or four countries have liberalized their reproductive health laws and policies, paving the way for lifesaving services. Our new government’s anti-life stance jeopardizes this progress and makes sense only to those who devalue women” (2/6).

The Conversation: How Trump’s “Gag Rule” On Abortion Funds Will Lead To More Abortions
Patricia Schwerdtle, lecturer in the School of Nursing and Midwifery in the Faculty of Medicine at Monash University

“…[The reinstatement and expansion of the Mexico City Policy is] a global health issue that has serious implications for the most vulnerable populations — millions of men, women, and children in developing countries. … Reducing access to family planning services leads to more unplanned pregnancies, more unsafe abortions, and more maternal death. … [I]t will have a huge impact on women in developing countries … The global gag rule actually increases abortion demand and has consequences for a range of other health issues such as HIV/AIDS, cervical cancer, and child health and well-being. … As a global community, we have a duty to expand access to family planning for people worldwide, particularly to the most vulnerable” (1/26).