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Lautenberg Amendment Permanently Repealing "Global Gag Rule"Approved by Appropriations Committee
Lautenberg Press Office, 202-224-3224
Thursday, May 24,
2012
WASHINGTON, DC—The Senate Appropriations Committee today approved language offered by U.S. Senator Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ) to permanently repeal the “Global Gag Rule” and protect access to family planning services for women around the world. Lautenberg introduced the language as an amendment to the FY 2013 State and Foreign Operations appropriations bill. The bill now goes to the full Senate for consideration.
“House Republicans continue efforts to put politics in the way of vital health care for women by attempting to reinstate the global gag rule. This amendment ensures this backwards policy never returns and protects access to family planning services for some of the world’s poorest women,” said Sen. Lautenberg, a member of the State and Foreign Operations Appropriations Subcommittee. “The United States is an international leader for women’s rights, and we must rule out any possibility that this dangerous and harmful policy could return.”
The “Global Gag Rule” prohibited the United States from providing foreign aid for contraception and family planning services to any organization that used its own funding to perform or promote legal abortion. Upon taking office, President Obama reversed the rule by executive order, but the policy could be reinstated again by a future administration. The Lautenberg amendment codifies the elimination of this policy in law to ensure that nongovernmental organizations that use their own funds to provide comprehensive reproductive health information and services that are legal in the countries in which they operate—and legal in the United States—remain eligible to receive aid from the United States.
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