For Health Security and Equity, Time to End the Global Gag Rule Once and For All
President Joe Biden’s first foreign trip for high-level meetings in Europe was intended as a strong signal to the world that “America is back.” While he was largely referring to the return to diplomatic leadership, the significant commitment that the United States and the Group of Seven countries made to provide more than 2 billion COVID-19 vaccine doses for the world also highlights the return of the United States as a leader in global health.
Such efforts resume a U.S. history of bipartisan leadership on global health, as demonstrated by initiatives like the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), which was launched by President George W. Bush in 2003 and has saved 20 million lives in more than 50 countries.
As the Biden-Harris administration works to restitch the U.S. mantle of global leadership, Congress is also using its annual appropriations bill to address how certain U.S. policies on global health reduce the effectiveness of foreign aid and take action to ensure U.S. health policy increases — rather than decreases — access to care worldwide. At the top of that list is the Global Gag Rule.
Originally posted on Just Security. Article by Roopa Dhatt, Cassandra Varanka and Lanice C. Williams
