freitasm:

 

For those of you who thnk Trump's policies won't affect non-USA citizens, it started already: "President Donald Trump reinstated an executive order Monday barring US foreign aid from going to any nongovernmental organization (NGO) that either provides abortion services, or even discusses abortion with its patients as an option for family planning."

 

 

The reality is simple and brutal. Reinstating the global gag rule will not reduce abortions. Sub-Saharan Africa, for instance, had higher abortion rates after George W. Bush reinstated the gag rule, because it reduced women’s access to contraception and caused more unwanted pregnancies, which women then chose to terminate.

 

The gag rule will, however, lead to more women dying across the developing world. Marie Stopes International, a major global family planning organization, estimates that without alternative funding, the loss of its services alone will cause 6.5 million unintended pregnancies, 2.2 million abortions, 2.1 million unsafe abortions, and 21,700 maternal deaths just in Trump’s first term, from 2017 to 2020. The organization says it will also be prevented from reaching 1.5 million women with contraception every year.

 

 

Ironically this would've been done under the guise of "pro-life". This must be a subjective term, as lives will be most likely lost as a result of this move. It won't stop abortions, but will instead make it much harder to obtain safe ones. It'll also mean an increase in unwanted births, and the associated social cost that can come with this.