Trump Administration’s Global Women’s Health Policies Not ‘Pro-Life’
New York Times: Trump Thinks This Is Pro-Life?
Nicholas Kristof, New York Times columnist
“When President Trump and his (male) aides sit at a conference table deciding to cut off money to women’s health programs abroad, they call it a ‘pro-life’ move. Yet here in Haiti, I’ll tell you the result: Impoverished women suffer ghastly injuries and excruciating deaths. Washington’s new women’s health policies should be called ‘pro-death.’ … First came the ‘global gag rule,’ ending funding to overseas health aid groups linked in some way to abortion, including counseling that mentions it as an option. The latest is that Trump just cut every penny the U.S. provides the United Nations Population Fund. … Politicians in Washington don’t have a clue about the hideous things that happen when women are marginalized and health care is unavailable. What the [UNFPA] does is help girls … avoid unwanted pregnancies and the nightmare of a fistula, a prolapse, or cancer. … Yet a group of blundering men in the Trump administration posture as moral leaders, and the result is that women in places like Haiti will suffer fistulas, prolapses, and agonizing deaths in childbirth or from cervical cancer. Some of these women will be humiliated by the failures of their flesh, but the real shame belongs to sanctimonious zealots in Washington who don’t have a clue what they’re doing. And this is pro-life?” (4/22).
The KFF Daily Global Health Policy Report summarized news and information on global health policy from hundreds of sources, from May 2009 through December 2020. All summaries are archived and available via search.