The Global Gag Rule Endangers Refugee Women’s Lives

On Friday evening, President Donald Trump reinstated the global gag rule, and drastically cut U.S. funding for critical global health services. The “global gag rule” prohibits U.S. funding to foreign organizations who provide, counsel, refer, or advocate for legal abortion services in their own countries—even when these activities are supported entirely by non-U.S. funds. Its reinstatement is about to have devastating impacts on the lives of the most vulnerable women and girls around the world.

“Let us be clear: this policy will not protect lives—it will endanger them,” said Melanie Nezer, the Women’s Refugee Commission’s vice president for advocacy and external relations. “The goal of the global gag rule is to curtail access to safe sexual and reproductive healthcare, including access to safe abortion. The result is more suffering from the consequences of conflict-related sexual violence, more unintended pregnancies, more unsafe abortions, and more maternal death that would otherwise be entirely preventable.”

Access to safe sexual and reproductive health services is a matter of life and death for millions of people worldwide. This is especially true for displaced women and girls, who face heightened risks of sexual violence, pregnancy complications, and maternal death. The U.S. has been a global leader in funding sexual and reproductive healthcare for decades. In 2023, the U.S. spent $607.5 million on international family planning assistance—preventing 14,000 maternal deaths and 2.6 million unsafe abortions. Investing in sexual and reproductive healthcare saves lives and contributes to the physical, emotional, and economic well-being of women and girls and their communities.

The Trump administration has destroyed a vital lifeline to hospitals, clinics, and health workers serving on the frontline of crises to support the poorest and most vulnerable communities around the world. Many will be forced to shut down, and access to contraception, maternal and child healthcare, and HIV prevention and treatment will end. Each iteration of the global gag rule has lifelong consequences for displaced and conflict-affected communities.

WRC joins over 100 other civil society organizations in opposing the global gag rule. We support the Global Health, Empowerment, and Rights (HER) Act, which would permanently repeal the global gag. We continue to advocate for the rights and safety of displaced women and girls, and their fundamental right to access safe sexual and reproductive healthcare.