For Immediate Release:	January 23, 2003
For More Information:	Kimberley Cline, Population Action International (PAI), kcline@popact.org, 202.557.3423
Sponsor Organization:	Population Action International
"The tragic irony of this misguided gag is that from Bangladesh to Bali, when women have better access to comprehensive reproductive health care, economic opportunities and education, the quality of everyone's lives is dramatically improved," says PAI President Amy Coen.
WASHINGTON, Jan. 23--In the month that America marks the 30th Anniversary of Roe Vs. Wade, the world observes the 2nd year of the U.S. Administration's Global Gag Rule, according to Population Action International (PAI). "The tragic irony of this misguided gag is that from Bangladesh to Bali, when women have better access to comprehensive reproductive health care, economic opportunities and education, the quality of everyone's lives is dramatically improved," says PAI President Amy Coen. The Global Gag Rule bars U.S. funding for any organization that uses its own non-U.S. money to provide legal abortion, talk to its patients about the availability of legal abortion, or even talk about its own country's abortion laws. The policy coerces family planning clinics, doctors, and organizations into sacrificing their right to fully counsel patients or even participate in democratic debate in order to receive U.S. funding for voluntary family planning services. In other words, the Global Gag Rule is not about abortion but is a de facto ban on providing women with comprehensive reproductive health care in the developing world. But could the Global Gag Rule -- a policy, which, when imposed, received international condemnation as anti-women, anti-free speech, un-democratic, and even un-American -- be but the first step for a slowly-emerging hardline approach from the Bush Administration to international family planning? Access PAI's Global Gag Rule resources at our website: http://www.PopulationAction.org