— Members of Congress have moved to strengthen a funding ban that targets abortion across the globe,
by including it in a foreign aid bill that they sent to the House floor this week.
The measure would shore up the Trump administration's so-called "global gag rule."
It's a policy that prohibits American aid dollars from going to any health organization
that advocates, studies or even mentions a need for safe abortion.
The effects are already being felt in the African nation of Malawi,
where advocates say women need more access to the medical procedure.
— This song is part of a campaign to prevent deaths from unsafe abortion.
The procedure is illegal in Malawi,
so many women go to a local witch doctor, or try to abort at home.
When these women come down with infections and bleeding,
which happens often,
they come to the female ward.
The district hospital in Kasungu is the only one serving about 600,000 people.
— Sylvester Zimba is a nurse at the female ward of the hospital who specializes in post-abortion care.
— So what is an example of an object that you might find?
— So you're keeping their secret.
— The penalty for having an abortion is 14 years in prison.
But a proposed bill would decriminalize abortion
in cases of rape and incest, fetal anomaly, and mental health.
Chrispine Sibande, the National Director at IPAS,
a nonprofit that fights for safe abortion worldwide,
is leading the charge on the bill.
He says Donald Trump just made his job a lot harder:
— Three days into the Trump administration,
the President signed a policy that blocks money
to any international group that so much as mentions abortion.
Reproductive rights activists call it the "global gag rule."
Every Republican president since Ronald Reagan has enforced the policy,
but the Trump administration went much further:
the so-called gag rule affects all $8.8 billion of U.S. global healthcare assistance.
— But the opposition to Malawi's abortion bill has cheered Trump's support for the funding ban,
including these Christian activists:
— Pastor Nick Chakwera is a leading opponent of the bill.
— Many of the groups who stand to lose U.S. government funds
for, quote, "promoting" abortion
say they won't back down.
That includes the Family Planning Association of Malawi,
which runs birth control clinics across the country.
— So it's birth control,
it's antibiotics against sexually transmitted infections,
HIV treatment.
That all goes away.
— Yes.
— In Lilongwe, Malawi's capital, alone,
Mbendera estimates that 600,000 women will lose access to birth control because of the Trump policy.
Advocates know what's going to happen next:
Under the Bush-era gag rule,
abortion rates actually rose in sub-Saharan Africa.
— It will definitely increase the number of criminal abortions that will occur,
and therefore increase the number of patients that we have here,
and increasing the maternal mortality.
— So, less money for family planning groups,
if they choose to advocate for safe abortion, equals…
— More unwanted pregnancies.
More unplanned pregnancies.
More illegal abortions.
More maternal mortality rates.
— More women dying. — Yes.
— Sylvester Zimba, the nurse,
can barely keep up with the number of women who are already having unsafe abortions.
He knows it's about to get worse.
The gag rule isn't supposed to affect emergency care.
— But in May,
Zimba was told that because of the Trump administration's policy,
he was losing his USAID funding anyway.
— So when you hear the US government say, "This is a pro-life policy,"
what's your reaction?
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