The Hill: We will not go back on women’s health and rights
U.S. Reps. Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.), ranking member of the House Appropriations Committee; Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), Tim Ryan (D-Ohio), and Katherine Clark (D-Mass.), all members of the House Appropriations Committee

“…The Trump administration has done more to roll back international women’s reproductive health and rights in its first two years than others have in all our years of service. Its harmful policies and shortsighted funding cuts to international assistance impact the world’s most vulnerable and undermine our country’s hard-fought progress on global health and human rights. … For more than 50 years, the U.S. has been a leader in supporting international family planning and reproductive health — including as a founding member of UNFPA — which has saved lives, empowered women, and transformed communities and countries. It is now up to Congress to make it clear to the Trump administration that we will not go back. As we work with fellow appropriators to negotiate federal spending bills for FY2019, we are offering four amendments to the foreign aid bill: one to reverse and permanently prohibit the global gag rule, one to restore critical funding to UNFPA, one to preserve funding for international family planning programs, and one to require the State Department to include information on reproductive health in their annual human rights reports. … We call on all our colleagues in Congress to stand with us on these amendments and put an end to the political game that is jeopardizing the health and rights of women around the world” (6/19).