Foreign ideology vs. national priority: impacts of the US Global Gag Rule on Nepal's sexual and reproductive healthcare system.

In recent decades, bold steps taken by the government of Nepal to liberalise its abortion law and increase the affordability and accessibility of safe abortion and family planning have contributed to significant improvements in maternal mortality and other sexual and reproductive health (SRH) outcomes. The Trump administration's Global Gag Rule (GGR) - which prohibits foreign non-governmental organisations (NGOs) from receiving US global health assistance unless they certify that they will not use funding from any source to engage in service delivery, counselling, referral, or advocacy related to abortion - threatens this progress. This paper examines the impact of the GGR on civil society, NGOs, and SRH service delivery in Nepal.

Slowing progress: the US Global Gag Rule undermines access to contraception in Madagascar.

Madagascar's health system is highly dependent on donor funding, especially from the United States (US), and relies on a few nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) to provide contraceptive services in remote areas of the country. The Trump administration reinstated and expanded the Global Gag Rule (GGR) in 2017; this policy requires non-US NGOs receiving US global health funding to certify that neither they nor their sub-grantees will provide, counsel or refer for abortion as a method of family planning. Evidence of the impact of the GGR in a country with restrictive abortion laws, like Madagascar - which has no explicit exception to save the woman's life - is limited.