Supreme Court Decision Overturning Roe v. Wade Is an Assault on Human Rights, Will Increase Maternal Mortality and Inspire Anti-Abortion Forces Worldwide
In reaction to the Supreme Court opinion reversing federal protections for abortion, Nabeeha Kazi Hutchins, president and CEO of PAI, an international sexual and reproductive health and rights advocacy organization, issued the following statement:
“The Supreme Court has made the unconscionable decision to reverse the U.S. constitutional right to abortion. This decision undermines the agency and autonomy of pregnant people. It is expected to result in an increase of maternal and infant mortality and illness, and boost the United States’ position as one of the most dangerous countries in the world to give birth — especially for Black, Brown and Indigenous people who experience the greatest barriers to quality health care access.
“Overturning Roe v. Wade will not reduce the number of people seeking abortions; instead, it will result in more people being harmed or dying in the process of getting unsafe abortions or forced to carry an unwanted pregnancy to term.
“We are facing a fundamental attack on the civil rights of all Americans — the right to privacy, the right to health care, the right to choose. This decision will disproportionately harm Black, Brown and Indigenous communities in the United States and cause havoc for low-income Americans and people in rural areas who already struggle with obtaining abortion care. It will also put access to contraception and protections for the rights of the LGBTQI+ community on the chopping block as freedoms are rolled back due to this Supreme Court majority.
“The signal this decision sends around the world can’t be ignored. The United States’ commitment to gender equality and human rights around the world rings hollow when these same commitments are not upheld in our own nation, especially when approximately 70% of Americans support abortion rights. A minority is making harmful decisions that disregard what the American majority wants. What’s more, U.S. decisions and actions influence and inspire communities around the world. The overturning of Roe v. Wade could add fuel to efforts in other countries where sexual and reproductive health and rights, including access to safe and legal abortion, are threatened.
“The United States is backsliding as the overwhelming international trajectory is toward expanding abortion access and post-abortion care. From Mexico’s Supreme Court decision that made abortion legal, to groundbreaking policy and legal decisions in support of abortion access in Chile, Colombia, Ireland and more, the global trend is to expand sexual and reproductive health and rights — including abortion — and recognize that abortion is health care and access to it is a fundamental human right.
“Our country’s failure to protect fundamental human rights at a time of global expansion of abortion care and access is deeply concerning. Since the 1990s, over 60 countries have liberalized laws for sexual and reproductive health and rights, and many have moved toward the decriminalization of abortion. These rights make families, communities and economies stronger. Only Poland, El Salvador and Nicaragua have enacted more restrictive laws since then. Now, heartbreakingly, the United States has joined them.
“This decision will bolster the anti-abortion movement around the world, derail progress toward universal access to sexual and reproductive health and rights and violate the agency, autonomy and aspirations of communities across the United States.
“PAI recognizes abortion as essential health care and access to abortion as a human right. We will fight to keep the rest of the world moving forward to protect them as the United States takes a massive step backwards.”
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About PAI
PAI champions policies that put women, youth and at-risk communities in charge of their sexual and reproductive health and rights. We work with policymakers in Washington, D.C., and our network of more than 120 funded partners across 36 countries to remove roadblocks to accessing sexual and reproductive health services and support. For nearly six decades, PAI has helped communities succeed by upholding their basic rights.
To learn more, visit www.pai.org and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.
The Global Financing Facility (GFF) and PAI announced today a new collaboration to further strengthen civil society and youth engagement in GFF partner countries to help deliver better health for all women, children and adolescents, as part of the GFF Civil Society and Youth Engagement Strategy.
Two years into the pandemic, and with multiple crises affecting the world, civil society and youth voices remain critical in informing decision-making, promoting accountability and protecting essential health services for women, children and adolescents in at-risk communities. The GFF’s five-year vision addresses the urgent need for deepening meaningful engagement with civil society organizations (CSOs) to help build resilient and equitable health systems that respond to the needs of women, children and adolescents.
Supported by a $5 million GFF grant, PAI will further strengthen CSO impact by enhancing alignment of CSO participation at both country and global levels, streamlining governance and management and hosting the CSO Coordinating Group. PAI will also provide strategic and technical advocacy assistance and grants to enhance CSO capacity to engage in policy and funding decisions and ensure accountability by governments and partners.
“PAI is deeply honored to be selected as the CSO Host in support of the GFF’s commitment to advance women, children and adolescent health priorities around the world,” said Nabeeha Kazi Hutchins, president and CEO of PAI. “This role recognizes PAI’s contributions to sexual and reproductive health and rights, our trusted collaborations with community-based organizations worldwide and our approach to equitable and principled partnerships. As PAI works to expand the civic space for community-driven advocacy, the GFF’s investment accelerates and sustains the positive impact that local organizations are driving for the health and well-being of women, children and adolescents.”
Since its inception in 2015, the GFF has provided grants and technical assistance to strengthen CSO engagement in country stakeholder platforms. During the pandemic, the GFF scaled up its support to ensure CSO participation in developing COVID-19 response plans and advocating for protecting essential services for women, children and adolescents.
“The role of CSOs has always been central to promoting equity and ensuring the voices and needs of the women, children and adolescents are positioned at the heart of the country-led process to strengthen health systems,” said Monique Vledder, head of GFF Secretariat. ”The collaboration with PAI comes at a critical time when CSO engagement is more important than ever to ensure that women’s and children’s health lies at the center of an inclusive and resilient recovery.”
PAI was selected through a competitive process reviewed by the GFF CSO Task Force which includes external partners from civil society and youth organizations, private foundations, multilaterals and donor agencies, and by staff from the GFF and World Bank Global Partnership for Social Accountability.
For more information on this partnership or on GFF’s CSO strategy, please contact GFFcsoengagement@worldbank.org.
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About PAI
PAI champions policies that put women, youth and at-risk communities in charge of their sexual and reproductive health and rights. We work with policymakers in Washington, D.C., and our network of more than 120 funded partners across 36 countries to remove roadblocks to access sexual and reproductive health services and support. For nearly six decades, PAI has helped communities succeed by upholding their basic rights.
To learn more, visit www.pai.org and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.
About the Global Financing Facility (GFF)
The GFF is a multistakeholder partnership of the World Bank that supports country-led efforts to improve the health of women, children and adolescents. With the GFF, countries are making smarter, more prioritized, results-focused investments toward greater impact on the health, nutrition and well-being of women, children and adolescents; building capacity for more sustainable funding for this agenda; and exploring more innovative ways to work with the private sector. Since the GFF was founded in 2015, partner countries have made significant progress to improve maternal and child health. Learn more here: Annual Report 2020-2021.
Global Health Advocates Say Abortion is Health Care and a Human Right; the United States Is Backsliding at a Time When the World Is Seeking to Expand Abortion Access
In reaction to the leaked Supreme Court opinion reversing federal protections for abortion, Nabeeha Kazi Hutchins, president and CEO of PAI, an international sexual and reproductive health and rights advocacy organization, issued the following statement:
“A Supreme Court decision reversing federal protections for abortion would create a humanitarian and public health crisis that would result in millions of women and pregnant people losing access to critical and lifesaving reproductive services. This will not reduce the number of people seeking abortions — it just means that more people will be harmed or die in the process of getting them.
Make no mistake — the leaked decision rolling back the precedent established by Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey is a fundamental attack on the civil rights of all Americans. This decision would disproportionately harm Black, Brown and Indigenous communities in the United States and cause havoc for low-income Americans and people in rural areas who already struggle with accessing abortion care.
In addition, because the leaked decision does away with Roe’s fundamental right to privacy, it would mean that access to contraception and protections for the rights of the LGBTQI+ community could be on the chopping block for this radical Supreme Court majority.
The overwhelming current international trajectory is toward the legalization of abortion. From Mexico’s Supreme Court decision that made abortion legal to groundbreaking policy and legal decisions in support of abortion access in Chile, Colombia, Ireland and more, the global trend is to expand sexual and reproductive health care — including abortion — and recognize that abortion is health care and access to it is a fundamental human right . Since the 1990s, over 60 countries have expanded their laws or decriminalized abortion. These rights make families and communities stronger.
Only Poland, El Salvador and Nicaragua have enacted more restrictive laws since then and the United States is about to join them.
The fact that the United States is backsliding on fundamental human rights at a time of such exciting global expansion is deeply concerning. This decision would bolster the anti-abortion movement around the world, derail the progress toward universal access to sexual and reproductive health and rights and violate the agency, autonomy and aspirations of communities across the United States.
PAI recognizes abortion as essential health care and access to abortion as a human right. The United States cannot go back when the rest of the world is moving forward.”
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About PAI
PAI champions policies that put women, youth and at-risk communities in charge of their sexual and reproductive health and rights. We work with policymakers in Washington, D.C., and our network of more than 120 funded partners across 36 countries to remove roadblocks to access sexual and reproductive health services and support. For nearly six decades, PAI has helped communities succeed by upholding their basic rights.
To learn more, visit www.pai.org and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.
Today, American Jewish World Service, AVAC, Be A Hero, Better World Campaign, Bread for the World, CARE, Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, Fast-Track Cities Institute, Friends of the Global Fight Against AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, Global Citizen, Global Health Council, Health GAP, International Association of Providers of AIDS Care, International Medical Corps, IntraHealth International, Management Sciences for Health, Medical Impact, ONE, Open Society Policy Center, Oxfam America, PAI, Pandemic Action Network, PATH, Pathfinder International, PIH, PrEP4All, Public Citizen, R2H Action (Right to Health), RESULTS, Save the Children, Shot@Life, The Taskforce for Global Health, United Nations Association-USA, United to Beat Malaria and World Vision US issued the following statement after the U.S. Senate agreed on a supplemental COVID-19 funding package that cuts off funding for the global COVID response.
“We are deeply disappointed by the Senate’s short-sighted decision to cut off all global COVID funds. If passed, this package would send the signal that Congress has not only turned its back on the rest of the world, but it risked the safety and security of the American people and contributed to prolonging the pandemic.
“Federal agencies responsible for global relief are running out of funds. They will likely be forced to pause relief efforts or reallocate funding from other critical areas if they have not already. It is our hope that Congress returns from its upcoming recess with the commitment to quickly allocate the funds necessary to vaccinate the world and save lives.
“Vaccinating the world and providing critical testing and treatment support in low-income countries is the only way out of the COVID-19 pandemic. Until we commit to providing the necessary resources to combat COVID-19 globally, more variants will emerge, more people will contract the virus and the death toll will continue to rise. The need to adequately respond to COVID-19 compounds all other humanitarian issues including the crisis in Ukraine. Given the current geopolitical unrest and inevitable spread of variants and mutations, the situation is only likely to worsen.
“In crisis after crisis, the United States has stood up and led the world to prosperity. We implore Congress to take on the mantle of leadership, recognize the COVID-19 pandemic as a global threat to humanity, and create a package that reflects the needs of countries around the globe.”
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About PAI
PAI champions policies that put women, youth and at-risk communities in charge of their sexual and reproductive health and rights. We work with policymakers in Washington, D.C., and our network of more than 120 funded partners across 36 countries to remove roadblocks to access sexual and reproductive health services and support. For nearly six decades, PAI has helped communities succeed by upholding their basic rights.
To learn more, visit www.pai.org and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.
Today, President Biden released his budget request for fiscal year (FY) 2023. PAI welcomes the important but modest increases for international family planning and reproductive health in the proposal. The FY 2023 request includes a total of $597 million to support bilateral family planning programs and an additional $56 million for the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) — 7.5% over the funding level recently appropriated by Congress for FY 2022. While these increases are an improvement on current funding levels, they fall far short of meeting the U.S. fair share contribution to addressing the global unmet need for contraception.
However, we were disappointed that the proposal from the White House failed to call for robust changes in policy that could advance sexual and reproductive health and rights. This includes declining, for the second year in a row, to propose the elimination of the Helms amendment, which prohibits the use of U.S. foreign assistance funds to provide abortion services overseas. The only policy changes included are few small technical fixes, reiterated from last year, to improve the effectiveness of U.S. foreign assistance funds and ensure that family planning and reproductive health programs receive the same treatment as other U.S. foreign assistance programs.
“Throughout its first year in office, the Biden-Harris administration declared its strong commitment to expanding global sexual and reproductive health and rights. Yet this budget proposal lacks the same level of bold ambition. Reaching its goals will take much more than the modest funding increases requested,” said Nabeeha Kazi Hutchins, PAI president and CEO.
PAI urges the Biden-Harris administration going forward to consider not only the vital funding and resources but also the policy changes that will be needed to fulfill its commitments to advancing and protecting sexual and reproductive health and rights around the world. It is now up to Congress to significantly build upon the Biden-Harris administration’s budget request as it begins to craft the FY 2023 appropriations bills and deliver the bold vision of U.S. leadership on global sexual and reproductive health and rights.
About PAI
PAI champions policies that put women, youth and at-risk communities in charge of their sexual and reproductive health and rights. We work with policymakers in Washington, D.C., and our network of more than 120 funded partners across 36 countries to remove roadblocks to access sexual and reproductive health services and support. For nearly six decades, PAI has helped communities succeed by upholding their basic rights.
To learn more, visit www.pai.org and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.
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PAI is deeply disappointed in the fiscal year (FY) 2022 spending package released by congressional leadership yesterday, March 9. The bill fails to include any of the significant advances for sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) passed by the full House and proposed by the Senate majority on the appropriations committee, such as increased funding for international family planning programs and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) or the permanent repeal of the Global Gag Rule. Instead, due to the demands of anti-SRHR members of Congress, the bill defaults to the previous year’s funding levels and policy, essentially retaining a more-than-decade-long status quo on these issues.
The bill put forward yesterday for consideration in the House and Senate continues to fund bilateral international family planning and reproductive health at $575 million, with an additional $32.5 million for UNFPA, totaling $607.5 million overall. This amount, if passed, will have remained consistent for 12 years, despite the need for increased investments to adequately address the unmet need for modern contraception and other reproductive health services, as well as to offset the effects of inflation.
In addition, the bill fails to include important policy changes to improve the efficacy and efficiency of U.S. investment in international family planning programs. Most notably, permanent repeal of the Global Gag Rule, was left out. Included for the first time in both the House and Senate bills for FY 2022, this policy change should have been considered nonnegotiable as the chambers came together to form an agreement on a final spending package. Without this change, global health organizations around the world remain in a state of uncertainty, knowing that this harmful policy could come back as soon as a future U.S. president who is hostile to SRHR takes office.
PAI remains thankful for the steadfast leadership of congressional champions who sought to advance the SRHR of those around the world throughout this process. We hope that during the upcoming FY 2023 appropriations process, members will choose to set aside their politics and instead support investments and policy provisions that advance health, rights and gender equality.
About PAI
PAI champions policies that put women, youth and at-risk communities in charge of their sexual and reproductive health and rights. We work with policymakers in Washington, D.C., and our network of more than 120 funded partners across 36 countries to remove roadblocks to access sexual and reproductive health services and support. For nearly six decades, PAI has helped communities succeed by upholding their basic rights.
To learn more, visit www.pai.org and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.
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PAI is pleased to announce the new chair of its board of directors and the new board executive committee. Neeraja Bhavaraju was recently elected as chair of PAI’s board along with new executive committee members Ada Williams Prince as board vice chair, Nancy Deck as board secretary and Suellen Lambert Lazarus as board treasurer. PAI President and CEO Nabeeha Kazi Hutchins also serves on PAI’s executive committee. The new members of the executive committee will serve a two-year term through December 2023.
“It is such an honor to support PAI in this new role,” said Ms. Bhavaraju. “Protecting the sexual and reproductive health and rights of all people has never been more urgent — and PAI and its many partners around the world are absolutely critical to the fight ahead.”
Ms. Bhavaraju succeeds prior Board Chair Kimberly C. Brooks. Consisting of 12 members, PAI’s board of directors provides strategic support, fiduciary oversight and governance direction to help achieve PAI’s vision, mission and goals. Ms. Bhavaraju is a founding partner of Afton Bloom and was a director and co-lead of the global health practice at FSG, working with foundations, nonprofit organizations and major corporations to develop strategies for equitable change. She has had a distinguished career in sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) advocacy and research, advancing HIV/AIDS prevention programs for women around the world and serving as a champion for access to menstrual health and hygiene services as central to gender equity. She has published research on a range of SRHR topics, including the imperative to introduce new woman-controlled HIV prevention methods and the business case for comprehensive reproductive health.
“We are thrilled to have Neeraja, who has dedicated her career to achieving SRHR gains for women, youth and at-risk communities around the world, as our new board chair,” said Nabeeha Kazi Hutchins, PAI president and CEO. “Our board chair, executive committee and the entire board represent a wealth experience which serves PAI well as we embark upon the next era of our work to strengthen and sustain U.S. and global SRHR advocacy, support our global network of more than 120 civil society advocacy partners in 36 countries and advance PAI’s mission to achieve universal access to SRHR.”
Ms. Bhavaraju has worked with purpose-driven leaders and organizations across sectors to develop strategies for equitable change. She has advised foundations, from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation to nonprofit organizations, such as FHI 360 and EYElliance, as well as numerous major corporations. Ms. Bhavaraju succeeds prior Board Chair Kimberly C. Brooks.
Board Vice Chair Ada Williams Prince has served as an international development and humanitarian programs leader with over 15 years of experience. She has directed philanthropic strategy and portfolios for the Marguerite Casey Foundation and Pivotal Ventures, where she currently serves as director of program strategy and investment. Ms. Williams Prince also has extensive experience working with refugees and immigrants globally on a broad range of issues, including health and well-being, economics, policy and education.
Board Secretary Nancy Deck spent her career in Washington, D.C., as a senior marketing executive leading corporate brand strategy, consumer marketing research, planning and execution and customer loyalty insights and programs for several corporations, including Hilton Worldwide, Sallie Mae, MCI and Claritas. Ms. Deck recently retired from Hilton Worldwide, where she held leadership roles for seven years in global brand marketing strategy, research, planning and execution for Hilton and its family of hotel brands and for the Hilton Honors loyalty program.
Board Treasurer Suellen Lambert Lazarus lives in Washington, D.C., and has had a long career in international development and private sector finance. At the World Bank Group, she helped develop and implement the Equator Principles, the international financial standard for assessing and managing environmental and social risks in projects. Ms. Lazarus ran the Syndications Department at the International Finance Corporation, the private sector arm of the World Bank and was advisor to its CEO. She was also senior advisor at ABN AMRO Bank, advancing the bank’s sustainability and corporate social responsibility agenda.
Read more about PAI’s entire board of directors here.
About PAI
PAI champions policies that put women, youth and at-risk communities in charge of their sexual and reproductive health and rights. We work with policymakers in Washington, D.C., and our network of more than 120 funded partners across 36 countries to remove roadblocks to access sexual and reproductive health services and support. For nearly six decades, PAI has helped communities succeed by upholding their basic rights.
To learn more, visit www.pai.org and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.
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After more than three months from the enactment of Texas State Senate Bill 8, today the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled to keep the law in place, while allowing abortion clinics to move forward with their legal challenge in the lower courts. The controversial law allows providers to sue over the state’s ban on most abortions starting at six weeks of pregnancy, aiming squarely at unraveling Roe v. Wade.
As Justice Sonia Sotomayor expressed in her dissent, “a majority of justices have opted to bury their heads in the sand” by refusing to block a law that so flagrantly violates a person’s constitutional rights. This law disproportionately impacts Black, Brown and Indigenous communities, and adds fuel to an already dangerous international anti-abortion and anti-women’s rights movement abroad.
We will continue to stand vigilant and in solidarity with those working to fight against the codification of the assault against women’s autonomy over their own bodies and to fiercely advocate for universal sexual and reproductive health and rights, including access to safe abortion, for all.
PAI applauds the U.S. House of Representative’s passage of the Women’s Health Protection Act (H.R. 3755). If enacted into law, this bill would protect the right to access abortion care throughout the United States.
The passage of this legislation comes at a critical time. We have seen repeated challenges across the country to people’s right to abortion and extreme restrictions on access to abortion, such as Texas Senate Bill 8 (SB8). Everyone deserves access to comprehensive reproductive health care regardless of where they live. Bans on abortion and any restriction on the right to health care, disproportionately impact Black, Brown and Indigenous communities, those who have faced a history of discrimination and disinvestment, women, youth, rural communities, and members of the LGBTQI+ community among others.
As U.S.-based advocates of universal access to sexual and reproductive health and rights, the right to abortion in the United States underlies our efforts to champion abortion, family planning and comprehensive sexual and reproductive health care access around the world, through supportive U.S. foreign assistance and policies.
We are proud to stand in solidarity with those working to protect abortion access throughout the United States as an endorser of the Women’s Health Protection Act. Our hope is that today’s vote will be a source of encouragement to those around the globe who are advocating for increased abortion access in their own communities.
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PAI champions policies that put women in charge of their reproductive health. We work with policymakers in Washington, D.C., and our network of partners around the world to remove roadblocks between women and the services and supplies they need. For 56 years, we’ve helped women succeed by upholding their basic rights. To learn more, visit pai.org.
By Nabeeha Kazi Hutchins, president and CEO of PAI
PAI stands in solidarity with community organizations that are fighting against the assault on a woman’s right to have control over her body and matters related to her health, sexuality and economic well-being. The enactment of Texas Senate Bill 8 (SB8), which bans abortion starting at six weeks of pregnancy, is now the nation’s most restrictive and regressive abortion law.
The law violates constitutional rights, threatens to unravel Roe v. Wade, disproportionately hurts Black, Brown and Indigenous communities and is an affront to hard-won progress for sexual and reproductive health and rights at home. It also sends a draconian global message that fuels anti-abortion and anti-women’s rights activities abroad. PAI will remain steadfast in our advocacy for universal sexual and reproductive health and rights, which includes access to safe abortion. Join us, our partners abroad and Texas community-based organizations to promote, protect and preserve the full rights of women in the United States and around the world and the providers and individuals who work to make safe abortions possible.
Visit pai.org to learn more about our global mission.
Visit https://secure.actblue.com/donate/txfunds to support the rights of women in Texas.
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PAI champions policies that put women in charge of their reproductive health. We work with policymakers in Washington, D.C., and our network of partners around the world to remove roadblocks between women and the services and supplies they need. For 56 years, we’ve helped women succeed by upholding their basic rights. To learn more, visit pai.org.
“Bill includes major advancements for global sexual and reproductive health and rights.”
PAI applauds the passage of the Fiscal Year 2022 State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs (SFOPS) appropriations bill by the U.S. House of Representatives. This bill — the first written and passed under Representative Barbara Lee’s (D-CA) leadership of the SFOPS subcommittee — includes tremendous advancements for global sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR).
“We are thrilled about the passage of the SFOPS bill by the U.S. House of Representatives,” said Nabeeha Kazi Hutchins, PAI president and CEO. “We commend Subcommitee Chairwoman Barbara Lee for crafting a bill that boldly prioritizes SRHR and Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) and the other pro-family planning and reproductive health members in the House who helped to shepherd this bill through.”
The bill includes long-overdue increases in bilateral and multilateral family planning funding, which has been stagnant for over a decade, providing a total of $830 million for these programs. This represents an increase of more than $222 million over current funding levels and $190 million more than President Biden’s first budget request.
In addition to funding, the bill addresses a number of policy issues that promote SRHR, improve the effectiveness of U.S. foreign assistance funds and ensure that family planning and reproductive health programs receive the same treatment as other U.S. foreign assistance programs. Among the most exciting of these changes is the inclusion of the operative language from the Global Health, Empowerment and Rights (Global HER) Act to permanently repeal the Global Gag Rule. This provision amends the Foreign Assistance Act to ensure that future presidents are prevented from reinstating this policy. Additionally, the SFOPS bill is free of the Helms amendment, which is a crucial step towards eliminating the policy that has restricted the use of U.S. funds for abortion for nearly 50 years.
Republican opponents to SRHR attempted to amend the bill to eliminate all family planning and reproductive health funding, but these measures were voted down.
PAI urges the U.S. Senate to pull together and pass a strong bill to clear the way for advancements like increasing family planning and reproductive health funding and ending the Global Gag Rule once and for all.
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PAI champions policies that put women in charge of their reproductive health. We work with policymakers in Washington, D.C., and our network of partners around the world to remove roadblocks between women and the services and supplies they need. For 56 years, we’ve helped women succeed by upholding their basic rights. To learn more, visit pai.org.
PAI is pleased to announce the appointment of two new members, Angela Bruce-Raeburn and Tammy Palmer, to its board of directors. Both bring extraordinary global development, advocacy and human rights experience to the organization.
“We are thrilled to expand PAI’s board of directors with two extraordinary leaders who are committed to sexual and reproductive health and rights, gender equality and health equity,” said Nabeeha Kazi Hutchins, president and CEO of PAI. “Angela Bruce-Raeburn and Tammy Palmer bring a wealth of experience in movement building, public health advocacy and nonprofit organizational growth and development, and are shaping a necessary global development paradigm grounded in racial equity and justice. These are all areas of critical importance to PAI as we accelerate and elevate the impact of advocacy for universal access to sexual and reproductive health and rights and continue to protect and preserve the values of equity and responsiveness that have defined our programs and partnerships for decades.”
Angela Bruce-Raeburn is the founder of DiverseDEV, a consultancy designed to support organizations that are committed to social and racial justice and dismantling international development paradigms that have perpetuated inequities, colonial legacies and paternalism. Born in Trinidad and Tobago and raised between there and the United States, Ms. Bruce-Raeburn has more than two decades of global health advocacy, grassroots movement building and policy development experience, and is a sought-after commentator, writer and speaker on decolonizing development, racial equity and social justice.
Tammy Palmer serves as the executive vice president of strategy and business management for the International Fund for Animal Welfare. As a leader in strategic planning with significant global program expertise across health, food and nutrition security, conservation and human rights, Ms. Palmer brings more than two decades of experience in community-led development and has lived and worked in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Liberia, Mozambique, Nigeria, Peru, Tanzania and Uganda. Ms. Palmer has held diplomatic and executive management roles in both public and private sectors and led major global institutional growth and expansion initiatives.
“Angela Bruce-Raeburn and Tammy Palmer’s leadership, professional and lived experiences and passion are welcomed additions to PAI’s board of directors,” said Kimberly C. Brooks, chairperson of the board of directors. “Their perspectives and guidance will strengthen our board’s ability to ensure PAI achieves its mission to advocate for sexual and reproductive health and rights for communities around the world.”
Consisting of 14 members, the board of directors provides strategic support, fiduciary oversight and governance direction to help achieve the organization’s vision, mission and goals. Read complete board member biographies here on PAI’s website.
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PAI champions policies that put women, youth and other vulnerable communities in charge of their sexual and reproductive health. We work with policymakers in Washington, D.C., and our network of 96 funded partners across 33 countries to remove roadblocks to access sexual and reproductive health services and support. For 56 years, PAI has helped communities succeed by upholding their basic rights.
To learn more, visit pai.org or follow us on Facebook (@paiwdc), Twitter (@pai_org), Instagram (pai.org) and LinkedIn (company/population-action-international).