On the heels of seeing Kutztown University’s production of Eve Ensler’s Vagina Monologues yesterday evening, I am filled with pride to be a woman but I also a deep concern for vaginas. To be more specific vaginas and uteruses, on a global level.
Since his four weeks being in office- Donald Trump has done many things to get us talking. In fact, there’s almost something new everyday thanks President Trump for forever giving me a topic to discuss! But one thing that I think we need to pay close attention to, for the sake of vaginas and uteruses, is the Global Gag Rule.
America falls into the category as one of the few developed nations that provides funding for health assistance to some of the poorest countries in the world. Our ability to help those less fortunate than us is a truly great thing that we should be proud of. However, with the new policy passed by President Trump all of that may be about to change.
Under this new policy any health care facility that provides abortion counseling referrals, advocacy, or so much as anything about abortions ever will have their funding pulled- even though the American dollars used for funding are not even used for the abortion services in any way. This should scare us all. First of all, if we think of the extreme conditions that third world countries are faced with and how that may potentially impact a fetus or pregnant mother; then it will be apparent to you why abortion needs to be an option. While presidents have gone back and forth reinstating and getting rid of this policy since 1984, President Trump is the first one to expand it further. It now applies to any foreign agency or department that receives U.S. health aid, not just family planning groups as it previously had.
We need to be concerned about this too because if we can begin policing women’s bodies in other countries whom we’ve never even met and will probably never come in contact with, what does that say for the rights of our own bodies with the united states? Nothing good that is for sure.