Project 2025The policy agenda, crafted by conservative activists and spearheaded by the Heritage Foundation, envisions sweeping changes to U.S. government policy. Among other things, the 900-plus page document includes: A global code of silenceFamily planning providers around the world Warnings Threaten Abortion Rights Similar situations are occurring all over the world, even in countries where it is currently legal.
Project 2025 defines this rule as “Mexico City Policy” This is a gag order that prohibits foreign non-governmental organizations that receive US funding from promoting, providing, or referring patients to abortion services (with some exceptions, such as rape, incest, and life-threatening pregnancies), or even advocating for abortion law reform. Just saying the words jeopardizes their US funding, their operations, and for many non-profits, their very existence, so they are not allowed to talk about it.
The Global Gag Rule, which turned 40 this month, was first introduced during the Reagan administration and became a political hot potato, with successive Democratic administrations repealing it and Republican administrations reinstating it.
of The evidence shows This rule will not stop abortions, it will only make them more dangerous — effectively forcing organizations around the world to make an impossible choice: lose needed funding or self-censor and compromise patient care.
There are countless clinics Forced Forcing NGOs to close would halt and even reverse progress in contraceptive use, resulting in a sharp increase in unwanted pregnancies, unsafe abortions, and maternal deaths. Withdrawing support from NGOs that provide safe abortions or even information about abortion would stigmatize abortion even in countries where it is legal. It would push abortion into the shadows and encourage unsafe abortion practices.
The “Protection of Life in Global Health Assistance” rule, introduced by the Trump administration in 2017, was the most sweeping silencing rule to date. Negative resultsThe Heritage Foundation's Project 2025 playbook calls for an executive order not just to reinstate the policy but to significantly expand it, so that the gag order would apply not only to global medical assistance to foreign medical NGOs but also to “all foreign assistance, including humanitarian assistance.”
Trump campaign have not accepted Project 2025, he “It has nothing to do with anything.” In fact, Donald Trump recently Changes and turns To appeal to more voters, Republicans have taken various measures on abortion issues, such as opposing strict state bans and softening abortion policies in the Republican platform. However, sexual and reproductive health and rights advocates say: Fear He has considered the consequences of following the project's agenda and sees no reason not to, especially since an organized conservative movement is trying to get him to do so.
If he does as they suggest, it will be about $51 billion Increased funding (based on current levels), including U.S. assistance Multilateral organizations, foreign governments, and U.S.-based NGOs. This proposal is An unprecedented blow Access to reproductive health around the world is already limited, especially in regions like sub-Saharan Africa, where many NGOs are unable to fund contraceptives, HIV testing and treatment, infectious disease treatments, and vaccines.
Programs not directly affected by the Global Gag Rule still experience a chilling effect due to confusion about what it does and does not permit. Research results. If expanded as proposed by Project 2025, it would disproportionately affect marginalized groups, including poor families, racial and ethnic minorities, and the LGBTQ community.
Such unjust actions have no place in U.S. policy. That is why Congress Global HER ActThis would permanently lift the global silence rule: in countries where abortion is legal, non-US NGOs would be allowed to provide safe, legal abortions using their own funds, without losing US funding for other programs.
Relying on a temporary suspension of the global silence rule under Democratic administrations is not enough. The current on-off policy creates a complicated environment for U.S. grant recipients, plaguing their programs even when the global silence rule is not in effect. Removing the rule through legislative action is the only way to undo the widespread and long-term damage the rule has caused for more than 40 years.
Moreover, if passed, the Global HER Act would send a positive signal that the United States truly supports the full realization of sexual and reproductive health and rights for all people around the world. With the threat of an expanded global silence rule looming, the time to do so is now.
Maniza Habib is a researcher in The Population Institute is a Washington, DC-based nonprofit that supports reproductive health and rights.
