US policy still blocks efforts to reduce unsafe abortion

Abstract

Your Editorial “Unsafe abortions: eight maternal deaths every hour” (Oct 17, p 1301)1The LancetUnsafe abortions: eight maternal deaths every hour.Lancet. 2009; 374: 1301Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (10) Google Scholar correctly points out that we must focus on preventing unintended pregnancies and eliminating unsafe abortion in order to meet Millennium Development Goal 5. Unsafe abortion is one of the most preventable causes of maternal mortality and yet, owing to the stigma and restrictive laws that surround abortion, governments, health-care providers, and others turn a blind eye to women as they suffer and die needlessly. The Editorial also suggests that there is now a “favourable” political climate owing to repeal of the Global Gag Rule by President Obama soon after he took office, lifting restrictions on what US-funded private organisations could do with their own funds in support of women's access to abortion. However, without action by Congress, President Obama cannot remove longstanding legal prohibitions still in place on the use of US foreign aid for abortion, including the Helms Amendment. In practice, these prohibitions act as a total ban on US support to governments and non-governmental organisations for abortion-related information, counselling, services, or advocacy, except emergency treatment of abortion complications. US foreign policy on abortion stands in stark contrast to the policy released by the UK's Department for International Development (DFID) on Oct 14, 2009,2DFIDDFID's policy position on safe and unsafe abortion.http://www.dfid.gov.uk/Documents/publications/Safe-and-Unsafe-Abortion.pdfGoogle Scholar reaffirming DFID's commitment to support women's access to safe abortion care in developing countries as well as policy reforms where needed. The Guttmacher Institute report3Singh S Wulf D Hussain R Bankole A Sedgh G Abortion worldwide: a decade of uneven progress. Guttmacher Institute, New York2009http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/AWWfullreport.pdfGoogle Scholar shows that enlightened policies such as DFID's, along with ensuring universal access to family planning, will help save hundreds of thousands of lives. From 1993 to 1999, I was the Director of the USAID Office of Population—the US population and family planning assistance program. I declare that I have no conflicts of interest.