News
Still Gagged: The Helms Amendment and US Policy
January 23, 2009
In his inaugural address President Barack Obama challenged the nation: "that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace." In his first week in office, President Obama demonstrated that his words were not hollow by rescinding the Global Gag Rule, a restriction on US foreign aid that put over 400 nonprofit groups worldwide at risk to lose all U.S. health and democracy grants if they discussed abortion, even with their own funds. By lifting the Global Gag Rule, first introduced by the Reagan Administration and then re-introduced by President Bush, President Obama has signaled to this country that the US must not export inequality or place speech restrictions on the rest of the world.
Women's and health advocates have applauded the overturning of the gag rule as a "policy" victory, ensuring that women around the world will have better access to safe reproductive care. This celebration is understandable, but it is also premature. The elimination of the gag will only eliminate a fraction of the US censorship on abortion that is exported to over 170 countries through restrictions on foreign aid. What these individuals do not realize is that the gag rule's origin is not based in policy, but in law, and that the statute that was the "rationale" for implementing the gag rule remains untouched by President Obama's actions.
The 1973 Helms Amendment to the Foreign Assistance Act (FAA) prohibits US funding of any abortion services or speech except in cases of life or rape or incest. Although the Helms Amendment contains an exception permitting funding for women who need abortions for reasons of rape or to save their lives, this exception has never been invoked, nor have U.S. women's or health groups sought to have funding made available under this exception. For example, right now we could help the women in Sudan who suffer rape and forced pregnancy as war crimes. Abortion in the case of rape is legal in the Sudan, it is legal under Helms, but who is speaking up for this medical service to survivors?
Today, if you visit the USAID website, you will find the Helms Amendment at the top of the list of restrictions to abortion funding, before even the announcement that the Global Gag rule has been rescinded. The Helms Amendment's reach goes far beyond the "gag" extending even to the U.S. dues to the United Nations. This has resulted in all U.N. abortion speech being censored along the lines of the Helms Amendment. If President Obama restores funding to the United Nations Population Fund, as he pledged when he rescinded the gag, these millions of dollars in funding will carry with them the virus of the Helms Amendment, censoring abortion speech in direct violation of international legal standards on free speech and equality.
Congress must take President Obama's lead and honor international law by reversing the Helms Amendment. The US has exported dangerous censorship and oppressive social norms on the subject of reproductive rights for too long. In the process, thousands of women have not had access to proper care or the full realization of their rights. It is time for Congress to "play its role in ushering in a new era," one in which the US becomes a global leader in promoting equal human rights through the rule of law.For more on the Global Justice Center's work on US foreign policy, please click here.