Canada gives $20-million to replace Trump’s contraception cuts
An international conference, alarmed that
U.S. President Donald Trump’s policies could push women “into the Dark
Ages,” has raised nearly $200-million (U.S.) from Canada and other
countries to help replace Mr. Trump’s planned cuts to contraception and
family planning programs.
The Canadian
government announced that it will contribute $20-million (Canadian) to
the hastily organized fund. The money will go to five agencies to pay
for contraception supplies, counselling, safe abortion services in
countries where abortion is legal and other family planning programs,
primarily in Africa and other regions of the developing world.
Within days of taking office in late
January, Mr. Trump announced that he would eliminate U.S. financing for
any international group that provides information about abortion. The
policy, widely known as the “global gag rule,” is expected to eliminate
$600-million in U.S. funds for contraception and family planning.
If
the world ignored these cuts, the “purely ideological decision” of the
Trump administration could push women and girls “into the Dark Ages,”
said Alexander De Croo, Deputy Premier of Belgium, host of the
fundraising conference in Brussels on Thursday.
The
U.S. cuts have sparked widespread concern that a growing shortage of
contraceptive supplies in the developing world will lead to more
unwanted pregnancies, rising health dangers for women and an increased
number of unsafe abortions from clandestine providers. Studies have
found that similar U.S. cuts in the past have led to an increase in
abortions, often done illegally in dangerous conditions.
Analysts
already estimate that 225 million women worldwide are unable to get the
modern contraception that they want, because of poverty, supply
shortages, cultural pressures and other factors. This, in turn, leads to
an estimated 22 million unsafe abortions annually, one of the world’s
leading causes of maternal deaths.
“All
women have the right to choose whether and when they want to have
children, and how many,” said Marie-Claude Bibeau, Canada’s
International Development Minister, in announcing the $20-million in new
funds.
Speaking from the Brussels
conference, Ms. Bibeau told reporters that the international pledges of
about $190-million were “encouraging” but could increase. The
fundraising conference was organized hastily on just three weeks notice,
she said.
“This is only the
beginning,” she said. “Stay tuned. There aren’t so many governments that
can make significant commitments with only three weeks notice. This is
really a first step.”
Canada’s planned
new foreign-aid strategy will include a focus on women’s empowerment and
sexual and reproductive health and rights, Ms. Bibeau said.
About
50 governments attended the Brussels conference on Thursday.
Contributions of about $20-million were promised by Canada, Sweden and
Finland, while earlier pledges came from Belgium, Denmark and the
Netherlands. Private donors, including the Bill & Melinda Gates
Foundation, are promising tens of millions of dollars in additional
funds.
The cuts by the Trump
administration “threaten to suspend a large number of projects helping
to defend the health of millions of girls, even helping to save their
lives,” said Finnish Foreign Trade and Development Minister Kai
Mykkanen.
Canadian activists said the
money announced by Ms. Bibeau will help, but it is not enough. “Trump’s
policy represents a gross violation of women’s rights and runs counter
to the global trend of liberalizing abortion laws that has resulted in
significant decreases in unsafe abortions,” said Sandeep Prasad,
executive director of Action Canada for Sexual Health and Rights, one of
two civil-society groups in the Canadian delegation at the Brussels
conference.
He noted that the Trump
policy was deliberately designed to be more far-reaching than previous
“gag orders” under earlier Republican administrations. This one could
jeopardize more than $9-billion in U.S. spending on all global health
programs, not just family planning programs.
Some
critics have suggested that the Canadian policy would encourage
abortion in regions such as Africa, but Ms. Bibeau emphasized that the
policy would only support abortion in countries where it is legal – a
small minority of African countries.
“Sexual
and reproductive health and rights is a fundamental right,” she said.
“It starts with sexual education for boys and girls, family planning,
access to contraception. And where it’s legal, it also includes
abortion. The idea is really to give women a choice.”
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