As one of his first acts as president, Donald Trump signed an executive order forbidding any international organization that so much as even mentioned abortion from obtaining funding from the United States.
This reinstatement of the Mexico City Policy — often referred to as the “global gag rule” because it binds non-profit organizations from giving full information to the people it serves, even in countries where abortion is legal — has international abortion rights activists, global health experts and maternal health champions incensed.
But if they want to get really angry, they might just want to take a look back at the US, too.
In the state of Kentucky, a new bill has been introduced into the legislature that puts a gag on local organizations just as imposing as the one happening internationally. HB 149 will pull any state resources from any hospital, medical provider or health care center that provides “abortion services.”
The definition of “services” is a wide one. According to the bill, “Abortion services means providing abortions, providing referrals to or information about facilities where abortions are performed or about individuals who perform abortions, or providing counseling, advice, written materials or other information that encourages or promotes abortion.”
In other words, even a pamphlet that mentions an abortion provider’s address, for example, would be considered offering “abortion services” under this law, even if the address is being given for a reason that has nothing to do with providing an abortion.
Kentucky advocates are rightfully horrified about the unintended consequences that could come from such a wide definition, and oddly enough, it is the clergy that is leading the charge to kill the bill.
“Here’s the problem: under HB 149 clergy, high school counselors, or social workers who find themselves in the position of counseling pregnant women, could arguably be labeled abortion providers, and risk public funding,” writes Derek L. Penwell,…