Probably 3/4 of our school population doesn't even know what the the global gag rule is, even though it causes suffering to thousands of victims a year. African countries are the worst hit. Some countries that are negatively affected include Kenya, Ghana, Tanzania, Ethiopia, and Uganda.
The global gag rule ensures that "no U.S. family planning assistance can be provided to foreign NGOs that use funding from any other source to: perform abortions in cases other than a threat to the woman’s life, rape or incest; provide counseling and referral for abortion; or lobby to make abortion legal or more available in their country" (actual definition). In other words, a family planning assistance program/clinic can't give ANY form of assistance that supports abortion. The clinic can't even MENTION the word abortion. That is why the law was named the "gag rule" because it literally "gags" family planning clinics from even talking about abortion. It was re-implemented by George W. Bush on his first day of office in January 2001.
This law is responsible for many deaths a year. Even though the law was designed to decrease the frequency of abortions, it has skyrocketed the number of unsafe abortions. Women are defaulting to unsafe methods and performing abortions on THEMSELVES because clinics won't help them out. Some medical workers calculate that the death toll so far is in the thousands. This law is also arguably the root cause of overpopulation in indigenous populations. Women and men alike are not educated on safe-sex practices. They don't use condoms, take birth pills, or utilize any other birth control mechanisms that the United States and other privileged countries have. Overpopulation is causing a multitude of problems such as pollution and environmental destruction. For instance, many citizens have to cut down forests to create room for people to live in. Furthermore, overpopulation creates energy shortages and Africans have to cut down trees to have firewood to generate heat and light.
--- That is a picture of an African woman carrying firewood.
Some may wonder why these clinics even abide by this rule. If clinics are supposed to help citizens, why would they harm them by not providing the needed assistance? The answer is money. The rule also mandates that the clinics who don't abide by this rule will lose all the funding they receive from the USAID (United States Agency For International Development). If clinics fail to abide by this rule, they lose every single penny they receive from the United States. Without the funding, they can't operate or function cohesively because they need money to pay for workers and medical supplies. These clinics are placed in an awful position because whether or not they decide to abide by the rule, deaths become an inevitable result (either from the patient dying because she couldn't receive proper abortion services or from patients not receiving proper aid because clinics don't have money).
Other international donors have attempted to fill in the monetary gap. These donors include France, Great Britain, and even Cuba. Some multilateral institutions that have given some money are the European Union, the United Nations Children's Fund, and the World Health Organization. The largest donor of African health assistance so far has been France, who channels a lot of assistance through UNICEF (United Nations Children's Fund). However, the money is directed towards helping children with HIV/AIDS, not abortion services. A lot of countries are hesitant to provide money for abortion services because they realize that the United States is adamantly against abortion and doesn't want to hurt ties by creating tension with one of the world's biggest superpowers. France's president, Nicolas Sarkozy has been especially committed to developing a strong relationship with the United States, and he would not detriment the relationship by doing something the United States would not want.
Some, however, resent the United States for imposing such an inhumane law against those who have no resources or means to retaliate. There has been no clear justification provided for this action. It just seems like Bush is trying to impose his own Christian ideals without any justification. Just because believes abortion shouldn't be allowed, why should people have to suffer? Why should we risk lives just to prove a point? AND WHY DO WE HAVE TO IMPOSE SUCH AN AWFUL RULE ON THOSE WHO DON'T EVEN HAVE THE RESOURCES TO FIGHT BACK? These questions have never been answered.
It's time for change, and thankfully Barack Obama is ready to make that change. He has promised to repeal this law and increase family planning assistance to indigenous countries. This change is change for the better. Think about how the negatively the United States would be impacted if abortion was illegal. Better yet, think about how that would affect our school. Those who are sexually active won't have any means to protect themselves from getting pregnant or sexually transmitted diseases because contraceptives might be banned as well. Then, when girls do get pregnant, they won't have the ability to get an abortion. It's time for the Bush administration to be, well, gagged.
Here's a video to sum it all up ---
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4wrmweSdGg
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