February 27, 2012 – ongoing
Case F-2012-22928
GJC petitioned the State Department to obtain materials dating from January 1, 2008 dealing with any form of abortion restrictions on U.S. foreign aid, including standard clauses in State Dept. awards, materials relating to enforcement of the Helms and Siljander Amendments, and materials regarding abortion prohibitions and international NGOs. GJC also requested details on specific humanitarian awards, including “the purpose and scope of the award, implementing partners, and the portion of the award (or modification) containing abortion prohibitory language.”
Some of the responsive documents that GJC received deal with U.S. censorship of abortion-related speech even by U.S. citizens. Even under Obama (but at the request of three anti-choice members of Congress), the speech of then-US Ambassador to Kenya, Michael Ranneberger, was subjected to two extensive investigations by the Government Accountability Office and the State Department’s Office of Inspector General. The investigations centered on State Department support for constitutional reform in Kenya and whether any activities or speech of the Ambassador even tacitly expressed support for the abortion reform provision in the constitution.
State Department timeline (case F-2012-22928):
- February 27, 2012 – Initial request submitted
- May 17, 2012 – Expedited processing granted in response to GJC’s appeal
- May 9, 2013 – GJC sends a letter to the office of Attorney General Eric Holder regarding extensive delays in request processing
- May 20, 2013 – First group of responsive documents received
- July 18, 2013 – GJC appeals the withholding of 24 responsive documents
- December 2, 2013 – GJC receives additional responsive documents
- Letter from the State Department
- Documents from the Bureau Population, Refugees and Migration
- Documents from the Office of Global Women's Issues
- December 19, 2013 – GJC appeals the withholding of 19 documents and redactions to 8 documents
- September 5, 2014 – GJC receives additional responsive documents
- January 14, 2015 – OIG informs GJC they’ve completed review of appealed documents
- January 5, 2018 – FOIA officer informs GJC that documents are still under review