Murray Statement on Expected Trump Administration Implementation of Expanded Global Gag Rule

(Washington, D.C.) – Today, Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), top Democrat on the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, released the following statement on the expected release of guidance implementing the expanded “Global Gag Rule” by the Trump Administration.

“The Trump Administration’s new, expanded global gag rule will undermine global health efforts and the reproductive freedom and economic security of women worldwide—and it makes President Trump’s blatantly false statement about concern for women’s health, issued just one day ago, all the more insulting and ridiculous.”   

The Global Gag Rule, also known as the Mexico City Policy, bans federal funds for foreign non-governmental organizations that provide abortion services or provide information about abortion as part of comprehensive family planning services. President Trump signed an executive order on January 23, 2017 expanding the policy to apply to all global health assistance, which will now include assistance through the Department of State, United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and the Department of Defense.

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