Last week, President Bush cut off funding to organizations providing reproductive health care to refugees, denying basic health services to women who have upended their entire lives fleeing their countries to escape the chaos and danger of civil wars and conflicts. In a memorandum issued in the quiet of the Friday before Labor Day, Bush expanded the global gag rule to prohibit foreign organizations that use their own, non-U.S. money to perform, counsel, refer, or advocate safe abortion services from receiving U.S. family planning assistance administered by the State Department. (Until now, the global gag rule has only applied to family planning programs funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). In effect, the global gag rule uses the power of the purse to dictate what services and information health care providers in other countries can offer their clients based on U.S. anti-choice extremists’ ideological views.

Please send a letter of concern to your Senators and Representative – unless they know their constituents care about reproductive freedom everywhere, not just in the U.S., retrograde policies like the global gag rule will continue to inflict harm on women around the world.

Sample Letter for Campaign

Dear [ Decision Maker ] ,

I am writing to express my concern and opposition to President Bush's decision to expand the global gag rule to refugee reproductive health assistance. This is a purely political move that comes at the expense of some of the world's most vulnerable people - women who have upended their lives fleeing their own countries to escape the dangers of civil wars and conflicts.

Starting on his first day in office, President Bush has exploited the wealth and status of our country to impose his ideological anti-choice, anti-woman agenda on other countries. The reinstatement of the global gag rule in January 2001, and the withdrawal of U.S. support for the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) are just two of the many egregious examples of the Bush Administration's blatant disregard for human rights and human dignity.

I urge you to speak out on behalf of the millions of women around the world who don't have a voice or vote in our country, but nevertheless suffer the ill-effects of our government's anti-choice, anti-family planning policies. Please do everything in your power to overturn the global gag rule and restore funding for UNFPA.

Sincerely,

Campaign Launched:
September 04, 2003