The Trump administration is reportedly planning to expand the 'global gag rule' to strip US funding from foreign governments, non-governmental organisations and international bodies that promote diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) or what it loosely terms 'gender ideology'. This move extends the existing Mexico City policy, which already denies US funds to foreign health organisations that provide abortion information, referrals or services.
Global health experts warn that the expanded rule could have 'unimaginable effects', including a rise in deaths and violence as safe clinics for vulnerable groups close. For the first time, governments and major multilateral organisations such as UN agencies may fall under the policy, forcing them to choose between anti-discrimination programmes and crucial US funding.
Specific programmes at risk include those supporting young women and teenage girls in Africa, who account for a disproportionate number of new HIV infections, and vaccination initiatives reliant on training female health workers. Beth Schlachter of MSI Reproductive Choices described the reports as 'deeply concerning', calling them 'an insidious encroachment on sovereignty'.
A senior US state department official confirmed that the department will 'take additional steps to close loopholes' and 'expand the scope of the policy to ensure every penny of US foreign assistance prioritises American values, not the woke agenda'. The policy has been implemented under every Republican president since Ronald Reagan.
Rajat Khosla, director of the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health, said the interventions have already created a 'chilling effect' and that for countries desperate for external aid, the expanded rule would present 'very hard choices'. Campaigners have urged governments to reject US money with such conditions, warning of destabilised decades of partnerships and progress.
