This past Saturday, I took to the streets of New York to join the Women’s March in protest of Trump and his skewed politics. I marched for my immigrant family - for my father and I who moved here from Colombia, for my step mother who came here from Russia. I marched for my LGBT family and friends. I marched for the right to abortion and a woman’s choice of what is best for her body. I marched because I will never stop resisting’s Trumps Draconian politics, hate mongering or ignorance of other cultures or climate change.
On Monday - in what can only be interpreted as a backlash to the worldwide Women’s March protests - Trump reinstated the Global Gag rule. What the Global Gag Rule does is ban US foreign aid from supporting international NGOs that provide abortion services.
In short, this new bill forces the hand of NGOs to choose between US funding or providing high-quality reproductive health care and counseling to women in need. This is a similar move to the chokehold that US Republicans have currently placed Planned Parenthood in, forcing the organization to choose between losing funding or limiting their healthcare services for women.
With the reimplementation of the Global Gag Rule, Marie Stopes International - a leading family planing organization in developing nations - projects 2.1 million unsafe abortions, 21,700 maternal deaths and 6.5 million unintended pregnancies across developing nations.
In short, Trump’s Global Gag Rule affects women globally and puts the lives of those in developing nations at stake. To read more about the Global Gag Rule, please check out my full report for Culture Trip HERE.
To support women’s sexual and reproductive services in developing nations, you can donate to PAI or support Marie Stopes International in their fight to protect a woman’s right to healthcare.
