FOIA: The Helms Amendment, Global Gag Rule, and Other U.S. Abortion Restrictions
March 6, 2017 – Ongoing
Beginning in March 2017, GJC filed FOIA requests to the State Department, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and USAID to request “information on all emails, internal memos, contracts, grants and awards since November 8, 2016 that discuss or mention the Helms amendment, Global Gag Rule, the ‘Protecting Life in Global Health Assistance’ policy, or other US abortion restrictions on foreign assistance.”
GJC received expedited processing on these requests with State and HHS on the grounds that “failure to obtain requested information…could reasonably be expected to pose an imminent threat to the life or physical safety of an individual”; the USAID request was not granted expedited processing.
State Department timeline (case F-2017-05062):
- March 6, 2017 – Initial request submitted
- May 22, 2017 – Letter received in response to GJC’s appeal, granting expedited processing
- November 3, 2017 – GJC receives responsive documents from the records of the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor (DRL)
- December 7, 2017 – GJC files an appeal of the redactions contained in the responsive documents from DRL
- December 13, 2017 – GJC receives responsive documents from the records of the Bureau of International Organization Affairs
- February 16, 2018 – GJC is informed that this request is being processed as part of State’s “FOIA surge project”
- June 2018 – Estimated completion date for a determination on DRL appeal
State Department timeline (case F-2018-02397):
- April 3, 2018 – Initial request submitted & confirmed
- April 19, 2018 – Requester Communications asks GJC to narrow the search terms
- April 23, 2018 – GJC responds with narrowed search terms
USAID timeline (case F-00137-17):
- March 6, 2017 – Initial request submitted
- June 17, 2017 – Expedited processing denied in response to GJC’s appeal
- August 14, 2017 – USAID estimates first release of documents to be October 2017
- February 9, 2018 – GJC is informed that the first interim release is in clearance
USAID timeline (case number F-00118-18):
- April 3, 2018 – Initial request submitted
- April 4, 2018 – Email received acknowledging receipt and denying expedited processing
- June 4, 2018 – GJC appeals denial of expedited processing
HHS timeline (case 2017-00983-FOIA-OS):
- July 20, 2017 – Initial request submitted
- September 19, 2017 – Letter received in response to GJC’s appeal, granting expedited processing
- February 22, 2018 – GJC is informed that it will take “several months” for HHS’ Office of Global Affairs to review responsive documents
HHS timeline (case 2018-00822-FOIA-OS):
- April 3, 2018– Initial request submitted
Department of Defense timeline (case 18-F-0903):
- April 3, 2018 – Initial request submitted
- May 7, 2018 – Letter received from DoD FOIA office closing this case because the case is not “reasonably described”
- June 8, 2018 – GJC appeals the DoD's no records response