PAI Announces Nabeeha Kazi Hutchins as New President and CEO

PAI is proud to introduce Nabeeha Kazi Hutchins as our new president and chief executive officer. A seasoned leader with a track record of building multisectoral coalitions, catalytic partnerships and integrated global health advocacy campaigns, Nabeeha brings extensive experience to the role.

She is the founder and former president and CEO of Humanitas Global, an international development organization that creates sustainable initiatives to drive health, social and economic progress in under-resourced communities across the globe. At Humanitas, Nabeeha designed and directed advocacy initiatives for women and adolescents in collaboration with U.N. agencies, academic centers, national governments and public and private institutions. These programs consistently demonstrated greater income, education, nutrition and maternal and child survival gains when women had access to sexual and reproductive health information, services and support.

Nabeeha currently serves as vice president of programs at nonprofit organization KABOOM!, directing large-scale organizational initiatives to propel the movement for playspace equity to address racial and economic inequities in access to recreation and play. Nabeeha began her career at FleishmanHillard, a leading global public relations firm, where she served as one of the firm’s youngest partners. She directed a range of health and social justice portfolios including reproductive and sexual health campaigns and infectious disease education and prevention programs for health departments, foundations and corporate partners.

She deepened her programmatic public health experience working for the Clinton Foundation, where she led the development of national HIV/AIDS plans and supported health systems strengthening to deliver HIV/AIDS care, testing and treatment in Caribbean and sub-Saharan African countries.

“With its 55-year history, PAI is known across the globe as an organization that builds strong and collaborative partnerships to protect the sexual and reproductive health and rights of women, girls and other vulnerable groups,” Nabeeha says.

“I am honored and excited to work alongside the extraordinary PAI team and more than 80 international grantees, who are steadfast in standing up for the fundamental right to access sexual and reproductive health services and support.”

The CEO selection process was led by a subset of the PAI board with input and candidate review provided by the leadership team and a cross section of PAI staff.

“We are absolutely thrilled to welcome Nabeeha,” says Kim Brooks, board chair and chair of the CEO search committee. “She has an entrepreneurial spirit, operational savvy and passion for gender issues. Her experience working on some of the world’s most urgent development challenges and advocating for communities that have faced disinvestment and injustice means she brings an eye for inclusion and a share of voice that is essential at this moment and for PAI’s future. She is an exceptional, visionary leader, and will inject fresh perspectives into the reproductive health and rights landscape.”

Nabeeha, who was born in Pakistan and raised in Mexico, speaks English, Hindi, Spanish and Urdu fluently, and has worked on community programs in more than 20 countries. Nabeeha holds bachelor’s degrees in political Science and journalism and mass communications from Kansas State University and dual master’s degrees in international affairs and public health from Columbia University. She resides in Washington, D.C. with her husband, Coleman, and their two young children. She starts her role with PAI in late January of 2021.

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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 over 55 years, we’ve helped women succeed by upholding their basic rights. To learn more, visit pai.org.

Abortion is Health Care Everywhere Act would repeal the Helms Amendment, which bars U.S. foreign assistance funding for abortion, expanding abortion access globally.

Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), a Senior Chief Deputy Whip and Chair of the Congressional Pro-Choice Caucus Providers and Clinics Task Force, today introduced the Abortion is Health Care Everywhere Act. The Abortion is Health Care Everywhere Act is the first-ever legislation to repeal the Helms Amendment, a 47-year-old policy rooted in racism that bans the use of any U.S. foreign assistance funds for abortion, putting an arbitrary line between abortion and all other global health services. Reps. Nita Lowey (D-NY), Barbara Lee (D-CA), Jackie Speier (D-CA), Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), Diana DeGette (D-CO), and Norma Torres (D-CA) signed on as original co-sponsors.

Rep. Schakowsky announced the new legislation on a virtual press conference with reporters on Wednesday morning, discussing the Helms Amendment’s harmful history, its burden on global reproductive and economic freedom, and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on access to reproductive health care around the world. Joining her on the call were Dr. Ernest Nyamato, a Kenyan doctor and Quality of Care global team lead at Ipas, an international reproductive health and human rights organization, and former director of the Ipas Africa Alliance in Kenya; and Lienna Feleke-Eshete, public policy associate at CHANGE, a U.S. nongovernmental organization that advocates for sexual and reproductive health and rights for women and girls and others who face stigma and discrimination.

As the United States grapples with racism and barriers to racial justice, the Helms Amendment is yet another example of a systemic policy that has become commonplace in society.

“The Helms Amendment is a policy deeply rooted in racism. It imposes our arbitrary and medically unnecessary abortion restrictions on international communities, allowing the United States to control the health care and bodily autonomy of billions Black and brown people around the world. Just like the Hyde Amendment, the Helms Amendment puts reproductive and economic freedom out of reach for women of color. But enough is enough, and both amendments must fall if we want to realize true health equity and reproductive justice,” said Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky. “I am proud that my sisters, Representatives Lowey, Lee, Speier, Pressley, DeGette, and Torres, are joining me to introduce the Abortion is Health Care Everywhere Act of 2020, which will finally repeal the Helms Amendment. Comprehensive reproductive health care, including safe, legal, and accessible abortion, is a human right.”

Dr. Nyamato explained how the Helms Amendment puts reproductive and economic freedom out of reach for millions around the world, including in Kenya and other African nations. He also discussed the impact of the restrictions on Kenyans who may already have limited access to critical health care services, noting the disconnect between the Helms Amendment and the needs of communities receiving U.S. foreign aid.

“While U.S. foreign aid has been critical for communities across Kenya, restricting funds for abortion has been harmful to the health and autonomy of people across the country. Because of these restrictions, too often, an unsafe abortion from someone without training becomes the only option,” said Dr. Ernest Nyamato, a Kenyan doctor and Ipas quality of care lead. “As someone who has worked in multiple roles in health and human rights, I see just how critical comprehensive health care, including abortion is, for people, their families, and their communities. Unfortunately, we are already seeing health inequities grow due to COVID-19 and people using the crisis to try to eliminate abortion access. Global support must help prioritize health care, not perpetuate barriers that make it harder for people to get the health care they need.”

Health systems worldwide are already overwhelmed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to a reduction in access to sexual and reproductive health care in many countries, despite the fact that abortion care is time sensitive. The Helms Amendment is poised to further exacerbate these disparities and put critical health care out of reach for millions across the globe. “Having lived through other health crises, I know that women and girls often suffer disproportionately. COVID-19 has devastated many of the communities where I work, and now is not the time to further limit people’s options,” said Monica Oguttu, an international women’s rights advocate, Kenyan midwife with decades of experience, founder of Kisumu Medical and Education Trust in Kenya, and an Ipas board member. “My patients can’t afford more red tape right now, and I ask that the U.S. government help, not harm Kenyan people.”

“For more than four decades, the Helms Amendment has perpetuated and exacerbated health inequities around the world and compromised the effectiveness of the U.S.’ global health investments. Along with the Global Gag Rule, funding restrictions that impede access to essential health care—including abortion—and prevent individuals from exercising their rights have no place in U.S. foreign policy. The repeal of the Helms Amendment is long overdue and we thank our Congressional leaders for clearing a path toward safe, legal and accessible abortion everywhere.”
– Elisha Dunn-Georgiou, interim co-CEO, PAI

Enacted in 1973, the Helms Amendment is housed in the Foreign Assistance Act and has been passed as part of Congressional appropriations bills every year for nearly five decades. The legislation was introduced by then Sen. Jesse Helms (R-NC), who was known for his anti-rights, racist efforts throughout his career. The amendment is related to, but distinct from, the Global Gag Rule (also known as the ‘Mexico City policy’), an executive order that prohibits foreign organizations that receive U.S. global health assistance from using non-U.S. funding to provide abortion services, information, counseling or referrals and from engaging in advocacy to expand abortion access. Both policies are discriminatory and deeply unjust.

While this is the first introduction of a repeal bill, a broad coalition of global reproductive health and rights advocacy, research, and service delivery organizations has been working to mitigate and address the harms caused by Helms for years. Coalition members include Advocates for Youth, American Jewish World Service, Catholics for Choice, Center for Reproductive Rights, CHANGE (Center for Health and Gender Equity), Guttmacher, International Center for Research on Women, Ipas, International Women’s Health Coalition, NARAL Pro-Choice America, Open Society Policy Center, PAI, Population Connection Action Fund, Population Institute, and Planned Parenthood Federation of America. Additionally, the Abortion is Health Care Everywhere Act is endorsed by more than 115 organizations and quotes from several groups can be found below for inclusion in media coverage. More information can be found at repealhelms.org.

PAI resources on the Helms Amendment

Time Is Up for the Helms Amendment

Helms Amendment and the Global Gag Rule — What’s the Difference?

The Ins and Outs of U.S. Abortion-related Restrictions Abroad and at Home

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PAI champions policies that put women in charge of their reproductive health. We work with policymakers in Washington and our network of partners in developing countries to remove roadblocks between women and the services and supplies they need. For over 50 years, we’ve helped women succeed by upholding their basic rights. To learn more, visit pai.org.

Elisha Dunn-Georgiou and Carolyn Gibb Vogel, PAI interim co-CEOs, released the following statement:

PAI stands in solidarity with protesters and advocates fighting for long-overdue justice against systemic racism, white supremacy and police brutality against communities of color in the United States. The violent killings of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor are sadly only the most recent examples of the disregard for black lives in this country. It’s impossible to continue seeing these deaths as isolated incidents and instead we must recognize them for what they are — symbols of a larger system of institutionalized racism that has not only taken these three lives, but perpetuates inequities for black and brown people on a daily basis.

As an organization working to elevate the rights of individuals and communities across the globe, it is our moral duty to call out injustices here at home.

It is our obligation to ensure that the pain we’re feeling — the pain our friends, families and colleagues of color have felt for far too long — leads to meaningful and lasting change. In this moment, we stand with those working to channel the grief and outrage generated by yet another senseless death into real progress. We are committed to this cause.

Black lives matter.

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On Wednesday, PAI submitted testimony into the record for the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs hearing titled “Unique Challenges Women Face in Global Health,” detailing deeply harmful impacts to providers, health systems and communities documented since the policy’s imposition of the Global Gag Rule.

Read PAI’s testimony here.

“The reinstatement and expansion of the Global Gag Rule demonstrates how repressive political decisions from other countries can affect population health and wellbeing in countries like Uganda. The Global Gag Rule wreaked havoc by cutting off funding for much-needed health services, especially amongst communities that are already underserved,” said Moses Mulumba, Executive Director, Center for Health, Human Rights and Development (CEHURD) in his hearing testimony. “It is not an easy choice to comply and keep the funding or refuse and lose access to those resources: jobs and indeed lives are on the line. Nevertheless, CEHURD cannot work on one area of health and not others, or prioritize some human rights and not others. This would compromise our values as an institution.”

“It would be senseless to examine the global health challenges women face without acknowledgment of the harm levied by the Trump administration via the Global Gag Rule,” said Jonathan Rucks, PAI Senior Director of Policy and Advocacy.

“As we have heard firsthand from organizations impacted including partners like CEHURD, the policy exacerbates existing barriers to services and suppresses efforts of local champions working on solutions—which will undoubtedly lead to worse outcomes for women and girls. If members of Congress truly care about the health and lives of women and vulnerable groups, they will pass the Global HER Act to permanently repeal this overreaching policy.”

The day of the hearing, more than 41 organizations issued a statement calling on Congress to permanently repeal the Global Gag Rule by passing the Global HER Act.

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Statement on House Foreign Affairs Committee Hearing on Unique Challenges Women Face in Global Health

Women and girls deserve access to basic health care, including sexual and reproductive health care—no matter where they live. Today’s House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on the unique challenges women face in global health emphasizes how the Global Gag Rule has undermined health systems and put critical care out of reach for those who most need it—women, girls and other vulnerable communities.

Testimony of key witnesses, including from countries like Uganda damnably implicates the United States in shutting down trusted health care providers in communities that are already resource constrained, reducing contraceptive access, increasing the number of women and girls dying due to complications of pregnancy and unsafe abortion, silencing health and human rights advocates and undermining country progress toward the sustainable development goals.

As the largest donor of global health assistance, the United States should support policies that are evidence-based and advance health, wellbeing and overall prosperity. We urge Congress to pass the Global HER Act. The legislation, originally introduced by Sen. Jeanne Shaheen and Rep. Nita Lowey, would permanently repeal the Global Gag Rule and:

Ensure foreign NGOs can remain eligible to receive U.S. global health assistance if they provide legally permissible health care services, including abortion services, counseling or referrals for abortion with non-U.S. funds.
Ensure that foreign NGOs can use non-U.S. funds for advocacy and lobbying efforts (consistent with the laws that govern U.S. NGOs receiving foreign assistance) to liberalize abortion laws in the areas where they work.
Guarantee that foreign NGOs and their staff, including health care providers, participating in U.S.-supported programs can maintain their right to free speech without U.S. interference.

It is time to put an end to the politicization of health and to leave medical decisions to the only people qualified to make them—women and their provider of choice for comprehensive sexual and reproductive health care.

Signed,

Advocates for Youth
American Jewish World Service
Catholics for Choice
Center for International Policy
Center for Reproductive Rights
CHANGE (Center for Health and Gender Equity)
Clearinghouse on Women’s Issues
Council for Global Equality
EngenderHealth
Equity Forward
Feminist Majority Foundation
Global Justice Center
Global Woman P.E.A.C.E. Foundation
Guttmacher Institute
Hispanic Federation
Human Rights Watch
International Action Network for Gender Equity & Law
International Women’s Convocation
International Women’s Health Coalition
Ipas
Jewish Women International
John Snow, Inc. (JSI)
MADRE
Marie Stopes International
MPact Global Action for Gay Men’s Health & Rights
NARAL Pro-Choice America
National Abortion Federation
National Birth Equity Collaborative
National Center for Transgender Equality
National Women’s Law Center
PAI
Planned Parenthood Federation of America
Population Connection Action Fund
Population Institute
Population Services International
SIECUS: Sex Ed for Social Change
The Center for Sexual Pleasure and Health
The Coalition for Children Affected by AIDS
The International Youth Alliance for Family Planning
Treatment Action Group (TAG)
Women for Afghan Women

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Dear Friends,

PAI’s Board of Directors would like to express its deepest gratitude to Suzanne Ehlers for her leadership and commitment to advancing the sexual and reproductive health and rights of women, girls and vulnerable communities around the world. Suzanne announced today that she is stepping down from her role as president and CEO of PAI to head the Malala Fund. Suzanne will assume her new position in early 2020.

Elisha Dunn-Georgiou and Carolyn Vogel, PAI’s vice president of policy and advocacy and chief operating officer respectively, will serve as joint CEOs through the Board search for PAI’s next president. Together, Elisha and Carolyn bring more than 32 years of programmatic and operational experience to leading PAI and they will do an excellent job of guiding the organization through this transition period.

Under their leadership, PAI will continue to call for increased U.S. investments in sexual and reproductive health and to repudiate harmful policies such as the Global Gag Rule. Globally, we will continue removing barriers to high quality, accessible and affordable sexual and reproductive care. And we remain unwavering in our efforts to foster accountability and the inclusion of communities and civil society in the policies that most affect them.

This is a moment of transition, and also one of great opportunity. Our work is taking us in new and exciting directions with a growing portfolio of more than $3 million in advocacy grants to partners around the world. At the same time, PAI is deepening our engagement in primary health care and spearheading new initiatives linking sexual and reproductive health and rights to achieving universal health coverage—all in support of the sustainable development goals.

Throughout her tenure, Suzanne has been a steadfast voice for the critical link between sexual and reproductive health and rights and the achievement of other goals such as girls’ education and social, political and economic empowerment. We know she will continue that dedication in her next endeavor at an organization removing barriers to girls’ education—which too often include child and early marriage and lack of access to the high-quality information and services necessary for girls to make their own decisions about their sexual and reproductive lives.

We thank Suzanne for her service and wish her all the best in the next step of her professional career.

Sincerely,

Jackie Payne

Board Chair

Today, PAI joins a broad coalition of nearly 80 organizations in releasing The Blueprint for Sexual and Reproductive Health, Rights, and Justice, a vision to strengthen health and bodily autonomy both domestically and around the world. This policy agenda provides a way forward for dismantling the barriers to vital health services created by the U.S. government in recent years.

Globally, sexual and reproductive health and rights have been increasingly undermined by Trump-Pence administration policies. From multiple expansions of the Global Gag Rule to defunding the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), PAI has documented the many repercussions of U.S. attacks on medical supply chains, the ability of providers to do their jobs and individuals seeking essential health care. We have been on the forefront of defending sexual and reproductive health and rights by working with Congressional champions to preserve and increase international family planning funding and by supporting foreign NGOs in navigating U.S. policies that harm the communities they serve.

This work, on the ground with our partners and on the Hill, has reinforced the importance of outlining a proactive U.S. policy agenda to advocate for the future we want—one that affords universal access to quality, comprehensive sexual and reproductive health care.

“At PAI, we believe that U.S. policies and assistance should pave the way for individuals to access care and exercise their rights, regardless of where they live,” said Suzanne Ehlers, President and CEO of PAI. “We have seen the damage that can be done when this is not the case. The Blueprint outlines a path to reverse course, and PAI is ready to work with policymakers to implement this agenda.”

The Blueprint is the result of an unprecedented collaboration between the sexual and reproductive health, rights and justice communities working internationally and in the United States. Among the calls-to-action for the U.S. government are the following global policy goals:

End the Global Gag Rule, as well as actively fund and promote access to safe, legal and accessible abortion throughout the world.
Contribute its “fair share” of funding to international family planning and reproductive health programs and eliminate policy riders which undermine the effectiveness of U.S. aid.
Commit to advancing free and informed choice across U.S. foreign assistance by replacing the politicized Kemp-Kasten language with comprehensive and enforceable anti-coercion protections across the full range of sexual and reproductive health and rights issues.
Protect and promote the highest standard of sexual and reproductive health and rights in multilateral fora.

Endorsing Organizations

Abortion Care Network
Advocates for Youth
AIDS Alliance for Women, Infants, Children, Youth & Families
All-Options
All* Above All
American Atheists
American Jewish World Service
American Medical Student Association
American Sexual Health Association
AVAC
Black Mamas Matter Alliance
Black Women for Wellness
Black Women’s Health Imperative
Catholics for Choice
Center for Health and Gender Equity (CHANGE)
Center for Reproductive Rights
Civil Liberties & Public Policy Program
Equity Forward
Gender Justice
Global Justice Center
Guttmacher Institute
Harambee Village Doulas
Healthy Teen Network
Ibis Reproductive Health
If/When/How: Lawyering for Reproductive Justice
In Our Own Voice: National Black Women’s Reproductive Justice Agenda
International Women’s Health Coalition Ipas
Jacobs Institute of Women’s Health
Jewish Women International
Maroon Calabash
NARAL Pro-Choice America
National Abortion Federation
National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum (NAPAWF)
National Black Women’s HIV/AIDS Network
National Center for Lesbian Rights
National Council of Jewish Women
National Family Planning & Reproductive Health Association
National Health Law Program
National Institute for Reproductive Health
National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health
National LGBTQ Task Force
National Network of Abortion Funds
National Organization for Women
National Partnership for Women & Families
National Women’s Health Network
National Women’s Law Center
New Voices for Reproductive Justice
Not Without Black Women
PAI
People For the American Way
Physicians for Reproductive Health
Planned Parenthood Federation of America
Population Connection Action Fund
Population Council
Population Institute
Positive Women’s Network-USA
Power to Decide
Reproductive Health Access Project
Secular Coalition for America
Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States (SIECUS)
Sierra Club
SisterLove, Inc.
SisterReach
Social Workers for Reproductive Justice
SPARK Reproductive Justice Now!, Inc.
Surge Reproductive Justice
The Afiya Center
The American Civil Liberties Union
The Center for Sexual Pleasure and Health
UltraViolet
URGE: Unite for Reproductive & Gender Equity
#VOTEPROCHOICE
Wisconsin Alliance for Women’s Health
Women with a Vision
Woodhull Freedom Foundation

The Blueprint can be downloaded at: www.reproblueprint.org

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As advocates for sexual and reproductive health, rights, and justice, our vision of the world is built upon dismantling systems of power and oppression. We recognize that our work does not occur in a vacuum and must respond to injustices happening right now and, in particular, the humanitarian crisis at the United States’ southern border. This administration has cruelly separated thousands of migrant children and families, deported hundreds of parents without their children, abused migrant children in detention, and failed to reunite these families. As organizations, and as humans, we cannot live out our values if we remain silent on these atrocities.

We condemn the separation of families and the detention of children and families. We condemn the inhumane conditions of these border camps. We condemn the Trump-Pence administration’s callous, cruel policies and rhetoric. We condemn those in power who would rather stay silent or debate semantics while migrant families continue to die.

We refuse to stand by while people are rounded up, families are torn apart, and the United States government continues to withhold basic human necessities from young parents and vulnerable children and infants. We will not be complicit in these violations of human rights, nor will we continue lowering the bar for what passes for morality under this presidency. And we cannot allow Congress to continue funding the Trump-Pence administration’s campaign of terror without dismantling these policies.

These horrors must stop. And we call upon Congress to end them today.

Signed,

Advocates for Youth
African American Ministers In Action
AIDS Foundation of Chicago
AIDS United
American Sexual Health Association
Athlete Ally
AVAC
Center for Disability Rights, Inc.
CenterLink: The Community of LGBT Centers
Chicago Abortion Fund
Council for Global Equality
Equity Forward
EyesOpenIowa
Gateway Women’s Access Fund
Global Justice Center
GMHC
Guttmacher Institute
Health GAP (Global Access Project)
HIVenas Abiertas
Housing Works
Howard Brown Health
If/When/How: Lawyering for Reproductive Justice
In Our Own Voice: National Black Women’s Reproductive Justice Agenda
Jewish Women International
Lilith Fund
Maryland
Medical Students for Choice
Michigan Organization on Adolescent Sexual Health (MOASH)
NARAL Pro-Choice America
NARAL Pro-Choice Arizona
National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum (NAPAWF)
National Center for Lesbian Rights
National Coalition for LGBT Health
National Council of Jewish Women
National Council on Independent Living (NCIL)
National Equality Action Team (NEAT)
National Health Law Program
National Institute for Reproductive Health (NIRH)
National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health
National LGBT Cancer Network
National LGBTQ Task Force
National Organization for Women (NOW)
National Partnership for Women & Families
National Women’s Health Network
National Women’s Law Center
PAI
Peer Health Exchange
People For the American Way
Physicians for Reproductive Health
Planned Parenthood Federation of America
Population Institute
Positive Women’s Network-USA
Preterm
Ruth M Rothstein CORE Center/Cook County Health
Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States (SIECUS)
Stop the Shaming
The Women’s Foundation of California
UltraViolet
URGE: Unite for Reproductive & Gender Equity
Voices for Progress
WCLA – Choice Matters
Yellowhammer Fund

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The Sexuality Information and Education Council of the U.S. (SIECUS) has served as the national voice for sex education, sexual health, and sexual rights for over 50 years. SIECUS asserts that sexuality is a fundamental part of being human, one worthy of dignity and respect. We advocate for the rights of all people to accurate information, comprehensive sexuality education, and the full spectrum of sexual and reproductive health services. SIECUS works to create a world that ensures social justice inclusive of sexual and reproductive rights.

This press release was cross-posted from the SIECUS website.

Statement on ECHO Trial Results

Women and girls, no matter where they live, have the right to make their own decisions about their bodies and their sexual and reproductive health and lives.

Unfortunately, in sub-Saharan Africa, 53 million women and girls still have an unmet need for modern contraception. Women and girls in the region are also disproportionately affected by HIV, with 74% of all new HIV infections occurring among adolescent girls and young women.

As family planning and HIV advocates, we welcome the ECHO trial—the first and most rigorous of its kind. The results underscore an urgent need to do more to address the unacceptably high HIV incidence among women, and to provide high quality integrated family planning and HIV information, services and supplies—including access to a range of highly effective contraceptive methods as well as pre-exposure prophylaxis—to support women’s agency and autonomy and help them to assess their individual risks for both unintended pregnancy and HIV.

Women and girls don’t compartmentalize their needs and desires: decisions and services around family planning, contraception, HIV treatment or prevention and other health issues must be rights-based, integrated, respectful, and woman-centered. Women and girls must be able to make informed decisions about their health, including about contraception and HIV prevention or treatment services.

Offering family planning and HIV/AIDS services together is central to ensuring universal access to reproductive health care and HIV prevention, treatment and support. And yet, the ECHO trial teaches us that even this is not enough. A 3.8% infection rate even among participants receiving the highest standard of care shows us that we must do far more to improve women’s health and prevent HIV and other sexually transmitted infections.

We call on donors, governments and civil society to:

Center women’s and girls’ rights, voices, and experiences. Women must be involved in every level of decision making when it comes to HIV and family planning— from research design to program approaches and policymaking. Engaging civil society, including women- and youth-led and serving organizations, can help to promote better integration and outcomes because these groups have a cultural, political, and social understanding of their communities.
Address the gendered socio-economic factors and structural barriers which undermine women’s and girls’ human and sexual and reproductive health and rights, including HIV outcomes. This includes gender-based violence, harmful social norms, and laws and policies which reduce their social, political and economic power.
Provide robust and flexible funding for both family planning and HIV/AIDS programs and promote policies that support integrated programming. These policies should ensure that individuals receive the services they need, regardless of their entry point into the health care system.
Expand contraceptive method mix and increase investments in research and development to further improve HIV prevention and contraceptive options for women, including dual-purpose products that can protect against both.
Improve the integration of HIV and family planning services at all levels. To better deliver for women and ensure equitable access to high-quality family planning and SRH and HIV services, family planning and HIV supply chains should be integrated; reproductive health and HIV/AIDS agencies should closely coordinate; health care providers should be trained in integrated care, and create strong monitoring and evaluation frameworks are needed to measure and incentivize FP/RH and HIV/AIDS integration.
Ensure equitable access to high-quality family planning and SRH and HIV services. National governments should develop and implement policies in support of access, affordability and equity, particularly as they build out coverage and financing schemes in the name of universal health coverage. To ensure financial sustainability and equitable access, insurance schemes and respective packages of services must include SRH information and services—including family planning, safe, legal and voluntary abortion and post-abortion care, pregnancy-related services and HIV prevention and treatment.

Endorsing Organizations

Advocates for Youth
American Medical Student Association
APHA
AVAC
Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation
FP2020
Global Network of Black People working in HIV
International AIDS Society (IAS)
International Center for Research on Women (ICRW)
ICWEA
International Partnership for Microbicides (IPM)
Marie Stopes International
NASTAD
PAI
PATH
Planned Parenthood Federation of America
Population Connection Action Fund
Population Council
Population Institute
Treatment Action Group (TAG)
United States People living with HIV Caucus
Universal Access Project, United Nations Foundation

The list of endorsing organizations is being compiled and will be updated periodically.

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Today, for the second year in a row, the Trump Administration released its annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices without information on the full range of abuses and violations of reproductive rights experienced by women, girls and others around the world. The reports focus solely on coerced abortion or involuntary sterilization. These violations represent only a narrow slice of the coercive and harmful policies and other systemic challenges that women and girls face when trying to exercise their reproductive rights, including a lack of access to contraceptives and other sexual and reproductive health services.

By doubling down on its decision to strike this section and sideline reproductive rights, the administration has shown yet again its disregard for the bodily autonomy and human dignity of women, girls and vulnerable communities around the world. These reports, which serve as a vital resource and accountability tool for not only officials and advocates in the US, but around the world, now fail to provide a complete picture of the reality of women’s and girls’ lives.

“As much as the administration wishes it were so, turning a blind eye to infringements on reproductive rights does not make them any less violations of human rights,” said Suzanne Ehlers, President and CEO of PAI. “Access to comprehensive reproductive rights has profound implications for whether a woman or girl can advance all other aspects of her life—from the pursuit of education, to participation in the paid workforce, to the timing and spacing of her children.

What Secretary Pompeo, Ambassador Kozak and the authors of this report fail to acknowledge is that dodging responsibility by claiming that reproductive rights are not defined and suggesting that advocates have begun ascribing ‘their own meaning to the term’ is an abdication of leadership and a weakening of the report’s utility. The sanctioned disregard for issues like maternal mortality and availability of contraception is a stain on the human rights record of the United States of America.”

The decision last year to strike the vast majority of information regarding reproductive rights has been repeatedly condemned by both civil society and members of Congress. Just last week, Rep. Clark and Sen. Menendez introduced bicameral legislation, the Reproductive Rights are Human Rights Act that would require the U.S. to report on the full range of reproductive rights in the annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices. The legislation has been cosponsored by 126 members of the house and 30 Senators. It was endorsed by more than 90 organizations including PAI.

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Statement from Jonathan Rucks, Senior Director of Policy and Advocacy

Today, the Trump-Pence administration imposed restrictions on Title X funding akin to a domestic version of the Global Gag Rule. This counterproductive and cruel attack on women’s reproductive rights will have a devastating impact on access to reproductive health care and other essential health services across the country.

The domestic gag rule interferes with doctor-patient relationships, forces providers to violate medical ethics and denies low-income Title X patients information about the full range of health care options available to them. It will cut out many of the most effective and trusted reproductive health care providers and exacerbate health care disparities. Just like the Global Gag Rule, the most marginalized and vulnerable women and communities will suffer the consequences.

Gag rules that halt access to information and counseling from trusted reproductive health care providers do not reduce abortions. Evidence shows that when the Global Gag Rule has been in place, entire communities are cut off from accessing contraceptives, resulting in more unplanned pregnancies and women dying from pregnancy-related complications and unsafe abortions.

For decades, PAI’s documentation of the Global Gag Rule has shown reductions in programs and services, clinics closures, loss of access to U.S.-donated contraceptives and heavy administrative burdens for providers who choose to comply. The domestic gag rule takes many of the most dangerous aspects of this policy and brings it home to the United States, where we are likely to see many of the same negative effects.

More information on the Global Gag Rule:

Reporting on the Global Gag Rule

The Global Gag Rule: What’s the Point (Video)

So Far, So Bad: The Wide-Ranging Impacts of the Global Gag Rule Happening Now

American Attitudes on the Global Gag Rule

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Global HER Act, Reintroduced Today, Would End the Deadly Global Gag Rule and Prevent Future Reinstatement by Executive Action

Today, Rep. Nita Lowey and Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, joined by 150 cosponsors in the House and 45 in the Senate, introduced the Global Health, Empowerment and Rights (Global HER) Act, a bill that would permanently and legislatively repeal the Global Gag Rule.

The expanded Global Gag Rule, imposed through presidential memorandum by President Trump in January 2017, has resulted in direct and rising harm to health care services around the world. PAI’s preliminary documentation of the policy’s effects in countries including Uganda, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Senegal and Nepal shows that health providers and communities have experienced disruptions in family planning services and referrals, closures of clinics and outreach projects, staff layoffs and diminished resources for service delivery, among innumerable other mounting negative impacts.

“In one unilateral, politically driven act, a President with no understanding of development aid or global health has decided to restrict the services and information health professionals around the world can provide to their clients. Through reinstatement of this policy, he has undermined established international partnerships and goals—including the U.S.’s own,” said Suzanne Ehlers, President and CEO of PAI. “The cost of this ideological decision is inconceivably high for the women, girls and vulnerable communities around the world left with health systems in chaos and no recourse.

We applaud Rep. Lowey, Sen. Shaheen and all the congressional co-sponsors for putting forth a permanent legislative repeal of the Global Gag Rule. Congress must act to ensure this U.S. policy never again endangers lives, threatens the work of health care professionals, and sows irreparable turmoil in global health systems on the whim of a President.”

The bill would amend the Foreign Assistance Act, the permanent authorizing statute, to

Ensure foreign NGOs can remain eligible to receive U.S. global health assistance if they provide legally permissible health care services, including abortion services, counseling or referrals for abortion with non-U.S. funds.
Ensure that foreign NGOs can use non-U.S. funds for advocacy and lobbying efforts (consistent with the laws that govern U.S. NGOs receiving foreign assistance) to liberalize abortion laws in the areas where they work.
Guarantee that foreign NGOs and their staff, including health care providers, participating in U.S.-supported programs can maintain their right to free speech without U.S. interference.

More information and resources on the Global Gag Rule:

Reporting on the Global Gag Rule

The Global Gag Rule: What’s the Point (Video)

So Far, So Bad: The Wide-Ranging Impacts of the Global Gag Rule Happening Now

American Attitudes on the Global Gag Rule

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