Universal Access Project Statement on Expansion of the Global Gag Rule
The Universal Access Project’s Executive Director Dilly Severin today issued the following statement on the expansion of the global gag rule, which for the first time will be applied to all U.S. foreign assistance, including humanitarian aid; and to U.S.-based organizations and multilaterals, including UN partners.
Deceptively rebranded as promoting "human flourishing," this expansion now extends the “gag” to impact not only work that advances sexual and reproductive health and rights, but also the full scope of equality in U.S. foreign assistance, under the misleading and ill-defined rubric of "discriminatory equity ideology.”
Severin said:
"This expanded global gag rule represents an assault on human rights, health and economic and social wellbeing. By extending harmful restrictions from global health to encompass all U.S. foreign assistance this policy puts millions more lives at risk, with the worst impacts on the world's most marginalized communities.
This policy effectively imposes U.S. political battles onto sovereign nations, undermining their ability to meet their populations' own needs and violating their own laws and policies. Additionally, for the first time, the policy also threatens multilateral organizations, including UN partners, potentially harming their ability to carry out essential functions that support global stability and human rights.
This is the most extreme version of the global gag rule ever issued—going further than any prior iteration since it was first enacted in 1984. On the heels of destabilizing funding cuts, this policy will worsen the operational chaos that has already disrupted critical programs across multiple sectors around the world.
To be clear, this policy will not lead to ‘human flourishing.’ It will only cause undue harm and suffering. The global gag rule has always been a failed policy that puts care out of reach while wreaking havoc on health systems. This expansion takes a demonstrably harmful policy and makes it worse, threatening decades of progress on global health, human rights, gender equality, economic development, and security.
At a time when global leadership is desperately needed, the U.S. is instead choosing to double down on a flawed policy that only undermines stability and democracy, and derails countries' paths to prosperity and equity.
Alongside its partners, the Universal Access Project stands ready to work with champions in Congress and the international community to oppose this dangerous policy and protect health, human rights, dignity, and equity for all."
