Since 1961, the Foreign Assistance Act has barred nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) from using federal funds to finance or encourage the practice of abortion. In 1984, President Ronald Reagan expanded the limitations on NGO’s receiving federal funds at the United Nations International Conference on Population, held in Mexico City that year.

 

The resulting restriction – called the Mexico City Policy or the "global gag rule" – prohibited the United States from providing funding to foreign NGOs that used their own, non-US funds for abortion services, abortion-related advocacy, or abortion counseling or referrals. For NGOs providing joint family planning and HIV/AIDS programs, their entire projects were subject to the gag rule, regardless of the amount or source of funding designated for family planning.

 

The global gag rule is devastating to family planning programs, leaving millions of women with no access to contraception and counseling to help them plan their reproductive decisions and protect themselves against disease. Worldwide, 80 million women face an unintended pregnancy each year. And 500,000 women – the equivalent of one woman a minute – die from complications of pregnancy or childbirth, including unsafe or illegal abortion.

 

The global gag rule stayed in effect until 1993, when President Bill Clinton rescinded it. However, President George W. Bush reinstated the policy in 2001 and expanded it to limit funds provided through the State Department and through United States Agency for International Development (USAID) grant awards.

 

On January 23, 2009, NARAL Pro-Choice Massachusetts and the entire pro-choice community applauded President Barack Obama for revoking the global gag rule once again. The president remarked that the "excessively broad conditions on grants and assistance awards are unwarranted" and "have undermined efforts to promote safe and effective voluntary family planning programs in foreign nations."

 

In order to finally eliminate the Global Gag Rule, Senator Barbara Boxer has introduced the Global Democracy Promotion Act, which would forbid the application of restrictions on funding eligibility based on legal health services. This bill is vital to ensuring that a future president cannot reinstate the rule.