(District of Columbia) The Government of Canada on Thursday praised President Joe Biden’s decision to overturn US policy of denying all federal funding to international aid agencies that directly or indirectly support abortion.
Biden on Thursday signed a new presidential decree that reverses that policy to protect and expand access to reproductive health care, including abortion, in the United States and around the world.
Born under Ronald Reagan in 1985, the policy would have lost any international benefit of US federal funding if abortion counseling or referrals had been provided. Over the years and administrations in the White House, this policy has been repealed by the Democratic president or reinstated by Republicans, five times in the last 28 years. Donald Trump expanded it to include all aid agencies specifically for family planning.
“I applaud Joe Biden’s decision to join the global consensus on the right to choose and support sexual and reproductive health and rights programs,” Canadian International Development Minister Kareena Gould wrote in her Twitter feed. Women’s rights are human rights. ”
In 2019, the Federal Liberals announced that the government will increase its funding to support the health of women and girls worldwide, starting at 2023, which will reach $ 4 1.4 billion a year over a ten-year period. The plan provides $ 700 million specifically for sexual and reproductive health, including comprehensive abortion services.
Lost US $ 12 billion
The “Trump version” of this US mandate has caused the most damage to companies, which are reported to have lost about $ 12 billion in international health aid.
“Unnecessary restrictions on the use of federal funds have made it even more difficult for women to get the health care they need,” the executive order signed by President Biden on Thursday read. “These excesses on foreign and development aid undermine U.S. efforts to promote gender equality worldwide, by limiting our ability to support programs that prevent and respond to women’s health and gender equality.
The executive order calls on the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to “take immediate action” to overturn relevant guidelines under the so-called “Family X” family planning program.
White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki described the wave of presidential decrees signed by Mr Biden as an “urgent attempt to overturn many of the” vicious, malicious and sometimes immoral “policies of the Trump era.
Action Canada for Sexual Health and Rights now hopes to negotiate with the Biden administration, pressuring it with concrete funding and political action. The Ottawa agency said the decision was “in line with political and global funding commitments that support sexual and reproductive rights on earth.”
“Politicizing women’s bodies and making decisions for political purposes is truly devastating, especially when abortion is recognized under international human rights law,” said Sarah Keller, director of body government relations.
Canada had a similar rule in Stephen Harper’s Conservative government until the overthrow of the newly elected Liberals under Justin Trudeau in 2015.
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