2/9/2018

ABORTION/FOREIGN POLICY/HEALTHCARE/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The Trump administration said just four out of 733 organizations that have received US funding to deliver health services have turned down US grants rather than accept new rules that forbid the US providing aid to promote or perform abortions overseas.
Advocates said that claim drastically downplays the impact of the new rules, which they say will have ‘far-reaching and deadly’ effects, limiting access to health care and HIV/AIDS treatment, among other services, and ultimately contributing to a rise in unsafe abortions… The Trump administration has drastically expanded the rule [Mexico City Policy] to apply not just to funding for family planning, but all global health assistance, including funding for HIV/AIDS, maternal and child health, malaria, nutrition and other programs…
State Department officials weren’t able to say how much money the four groups would have received, or how much money will go to the groups that agreed to the conditions. The rules haven’t yet been applied to another 500 NGOs, but will be before the end of this fiscal year, the officials said.
A report posted on the agency’s website said that even if aid groups refused to comply with the policy, the amount of funding directed to recipient countries would remain the same… Their resulting $80 million shortfall in funding will lead to 6,900 avoidable maternal deaths, 870,000 unsafe abortions and 2.5 million unintended pregnancies, the group said. Already, it said, clinics and projects in Madagascar, Uganda and Zimbabwe have been scaled back… The State Department did not respond to requests for comment about the criticism… State Department officials said an initial six-month review of the policy found that, ‘prime partners declined to agree to the conditions of the policy in only four instances out of the 733 awards.’ “

-Nicole Gaouette, “Health groups dispute Trump admin claims on abortion funding,” CNN Politics, CNN.com, Feb. 9, 2018 07:08pm