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How the Helms Amendment is hurting women all over the world

Wmc Fbomb Helms Hurts Population Connection Action Fund 91219

“No foreign assistance funds may be used to pay for the performance of abortion as a method of family planning or to motivate or coerce any person to practice abortions," according to the United States Foreign Assistance Act of 1973. This bill, which was introduced by (now-deceased) Sen. Jesse Helms (R-NC), is known as the Helms Amendment and has caused damage to women all over the world by limiting U.S. funding for family planning all over the world.

Population Connection Action Fund’s Senior Vice President for Media and Government Relations Brian Dixon answered our questions about how the Helms Amendment is causing harm around the globe.

The FBomb: The Helms Amendment has been called “imperialistic,” and even “hypocritical” since abortion is a legal right in the USA. What exactly does the Amendment do and how and why was it proposed in the first place?

Brian Dixon: The Helms Amendment bans the use of foreign assistance funds to “provide or promote abortion as a method of family planning.” This limitation has been imposed as a total ban on support for safe abortion under any circumstances since its adoption in 1973. To be clear: this law wasn’t passed because it’s good health policy. Or good foreign policy. It was passed as a reactionary response to Roe v. Wade. It’s an archaic relic of U.S. domestic abortion politics that is utterly divorced from the reality of the lives the people it most directly affects. It’s a bad law that’s poorly enforced. 

Unsafe abortion remains a significant public health challenge in the developing world. Nearly 30,000 women die every year from complications of unsafe abortion. The Helms Amendment – and the Global Gag Rule – are undermining efforts to address this ongoing challenge.  

Accessing abortion is most difficult for low-income women, and a large percentage of women in underdeveloped economies are low-income. Why is this the case?

In much of the developing world, access to reproductive health care is limited. And safe abortion care is especially hard to access. U.S. policies like the Helms Amendment and the Global Gag Rule are exacerbating the problem.

Health care is always harder to access for those who are marginalized in one or more ways-for women, LGBTQ+ people, those who live in rural areas, and those who are low income-and this is exacerbated in countries where reproductive health care is limited, to begin with. American policy should promote real empowerment. It should promote access to comprehensive care. It should stand with those seeking a better, healthier future for themselves and their families. But the Helms Amendment and Global Gag Rule put our government on the side of those who oppress. The architect of the Helms Amendment, the late Sen. Jesse Helms (R-NC), was an opponent of every advancement in civil rights, women’s rights, LGBTQ rights throughout his career. His legacy is still undermining progress for marginalized people around the world.  

The Population Connection Action Fund launched the #HelmsHurt campaign to collect stories from Congolese, Iraq, and Somali women on the detrimental effect of not being able to access abortion on their mental health. Can you share some themes from these stories and what you hope people will learn from them? 

Population Connection Action Fund launched our campaign to call attention to the harm of the Helms Amendment and build the case for its repeal in the years leading up to the 2016 election. As part of that, we wanted to be sure that the people most affected by the law were given a voice. And we wanted to make it clear that the politics of abortion in the United States are irrelevant to the need for safe abortion everywhere. 

Every pregnancy brings with it a risk of death to the person who’s pregnant. Nobody should be forced to undergo that risk against their will. And for 12-year-old assault victims in Congo, or Yazidi women who’ve been kidnapped and used as sex slaves by Isis, or women facing violence in Somalia, pregnancy can be especially dangerous. The United States should be helping these people, but the Helms Amendment prevents us from providing safe abortion care to them even when they are desperate to end their unwanted, dangerous pregnancy.

What is the current status of the Helms Amendment and what, if anything, can people to do to push back against it? 

The Helms Amendment is permanent law that will require an act of Congress to repeal it. We’re working to make sure that members of Congress and those seeking federal office understand the need to take that action. In 2016, we worked to get both Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders to come out in favor of repeal. We worked to get a provision supporting repeal in the 2016 Democratic platform. Our grassroots activists are now trying to talk to all the candidates seeking the Democratic nomination for president about the importance of finally getting rid of this bad law. 

People across the country can make a difference by talking about the real-world impact of the Helms Amendment. By demanding that American elected officials stand with the people harmed by it, rather than standing by an outdated policy promoted by one of the most reactionary men ever to serve in the U.S. Senate.



More articles by Category: Health, International
More articles by Tag: Abortion, Sexualized violence, Rape, Reproductive rights
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