Global Policy Forum

The Bush Administration's Mexico City Policy, also known as the Global Gag Rule, endangers the lives and health of women, children and families in some of the world's poorest countries, a new report released today finds. Access Denied: U.S. Restrictions on International Family Planning takes an in-depth look into the policy's effects — and comes less than a month after the President extended the Global Gag Rule to State Department family planning funds.

"The Global Gag Rule is yet another example of how the Bush Administration is allowing political ideology to trump science," says Amy Coen, President of Population Action International, the study's lead sponsor. "The policy shows no respect for scientific evidence and proven public health practices, and no compassion for the millions of women around the world engaged in a daily struggle for existence." Under this policy, foreign nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) are forced to choose between desperately needed family planning funds and the ability to provide medically ethical information or participate in public debates over their countries' abortion policies.

"At a time when more than 500,000 women die worldwide from pregnancy-related causes each year and over a million women die from AIDS, the Global Gag Rule is only making matters worse," says Ipas President Elizabeth Maguire. "Ensuring that individuals and couples can make safe reproductive choices, including family planning, is vital to saving lives and improving the health of women and communities."

Conducted by a coalition of reproductive health care organizations, the study documents the effects of the Global Gag Rule in Ethiopia, Kenya, Zambia, and Romania. Health services have been scaled back and closings of reproductive health clinics have left some communities with no health care provider. Because of the gag rule, many family planning organizations have been cut off from supplies of USAID contraceptives, including condoms. Public health evidence shows that lack of contraception leads to an increase in unwanted pregnancies and unsafe abortion.

One of the most startling findings of the report is that HIV/AIDS prevention efforts are also being impeded. In Kenya, Marie Stopes International was forced to close a reproductive health clinic in the province with the highest rate of HIV/AIDS in the country. In Ethiopia and Zambia, HIV/AIDS organizations have lost funding forcing them to reduce services. "This is the real face of Bush's compassionate conservatism — a war on the world's most vulnerable women and children, who bear the brunt of Bush's obsession with appeasing his domestic political base. America can and must do better than that," says Planned Parenthood® Action Fund President Gloria Feldt.

The report was developed by the Global Gag Rule Impact Project, a collaborative research effort led by Population Action International in partnership with Ipas and Planned Parenthood Federation of America, and with assistance in gathering field evidence from EngenderHealth and Pathfinder International. The Project's objective is to document the consequences of the Global Gag Rule and was initiated soon after the policy was reinstated by President George W. Bush in January 2001. While the missions of the collaborating organizations are diverse, we are united in our commitment to advancing reproductive health and rights, and in our belief that policies governing U.S. assistance should be evidence-based and reflect proven public health practices.

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