A recent assessment of Republican reproductive policy in developing countries found that the Mexico City policy, known outside the administration as the “global gag rule,” is essentially failing to prevent the spread of AIDS and blatantly ignoring the pressing healthcare needs of women and families in some of the world’s most impoverished nations.
The global gag rule requires any organization or clinic that provides reproductive services to sign an agreement stipulating that abortion will not be mentioned or discussed with patients. A recent study by Population Action International, Ipas, and Planned Parenthood Federation of America discovered just how debilitating that policy is to clinics in developing nations, where the policy sometimes caused the closure of the only available healthcare service within a day’s walk.
“‘In practice, that is what is happening. They are getting blackballed,’ said Wendy Turnbull, legislative policy analyst with Population Action International and one of the authors of the report.