Obama: Defending women’s rights overseas

Many international charities are optimistic that President-elect Barack Obama will overturn the so-called global gag rule, which prevents government money from supporting family-planning groups that counsel women overseas about the availability of abortion.

An informal group of nonprofit organizations is working with Senator Obama’s transition team to repeal the rule, which was first implemented by President Reagan and later reinstated by President George W. Bush when he took office in January 2001.

“We’re confident that President-elect Obama recognizes that this is a destructive policy and is having a horrible impact on women’s health,” said Tod Preston, vice president of U.S. government relations for Population Action International, an advocacy group in Washington. “It’s not reducing abortion; if anything, it’s increasing the number of abortions and unintended pregnancies.”

Charities are also pushing Senator Obama to restore money for the U.N. Population Fund, which the Bush administration has withheld over disagreements surrounding the agency’s work in China.

Nonprofit officials say the so-called global gag rule, also known as the Mexico City Policy, has not only cut down on money, forcing clinics in places such as South Africa to close, but also reduced the supply of donated contraceptives.

Marshall Stowell, a spokesman for Population Services International, a Washington organization that provides health and family-planning services abroad, said that if the restrictions were overturned, his charity could expand its programs and forge ties with more grassroots groups and clinics in developing countries.

Source: The Chronicle of Philanthropy