“This rule, also known as the Mexico City Policy, was first put in place three decades ago by President Reagan. Current U.S. policy already restricts organizations from using U.S. funds to pay for abortions. But the gag rule goes even further, by dictating what they can do with their own money. This means that if a clinic receives even $1 of U.S. foreign assistance for family planning, its doctors and nurses are limited in what they can do to help their patients. They can’t counsel a woman on the full range of health options legally available to her, refer her to another provider for specialized care or even give her a pamphlet with medically accurate information. That’s why we call it the global gag rule, because it prevents doctors from talking to their patients and providing services that are legal in their own countries—and in the U.S.—and it keeps people from participating in the democratic process of their own countries. This means clinics closing their doors, more unintended pregnancies and more unsafe abortion.”

- Cecile Richards, President of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America and Planned Parenthood Action Fund