Kathmandu, January 24
The new president of the US Donald Trump on Monday signed several executive orders. Among the orders he signed during his first full day in office, was also one that reinstitutes a ban on federal money for non-governmental organisations that provide safe abortion services or provide information on abortions, in countries including Nepal.
Abortion has been a contentious electoral issue in the US. While the Democrats have stood in favour of safe abortion, the Republicans have always been against it. The ban on federal money for abortion-related activities has been placed and revoked several times. While a Republican President reinstitutes the ban, a Democrat does away with it.
Republican party’s George W Bush reinstated the ban during his term in office, and it was swiftly revoked by Democrat Obama in 2009.
According to the Guardian, the ban is likely to affect women in parts of the world where NGOs have trained staff and provide information on abortions and contraceptives.
The Guardian reports that the United States is the world’s largest donor towards global health, and spends around $3 billion on worldwide health through just its US Agency for International Development, besides others. International Planned Parenthood Federation said that because of the rule, they could lose around $100 million that the US provides them.
Nepal’s Family Planning Association says the ban on funding will affect its ability to help the government in matters of reproductive health and safe abortions.
“Funding cuts would mean we can’t support … the government of Nepal’s effort on sexual and reproductive health and rights. Additionally, we would not be able to run community clinics or mobile health days or train healthcare workers. The impact also means we would lose essential medical staff like nurses, doctors and health experts,” Amu Singh Sijapati, president of the Family Planning Association of Nepal, told The Guardian.
The association’s director Subas Shrestha says the association has already signed agreements for programmes until March 2019. He said the decision is sure to have severe implications on the reproductive health sector in Nepal.
