#helmshurts

Today marks the 42nd anniversary of the Helms Amendment. And with it, another year that women around the world are denied the care that they desperately need and deserve.  Read this article on Refinery29 to learn more about the Helms Amendment and its negative impact on women and girls around the world. 

The following entry is a guest post to Healthiest Generation by a Planned Parenthood Global Youth Ambassador.

President Obama is coming to town. Well, to my current town, Nairobi, Kenya, at the end of July for the Global Entrepreneurship Summit. The purpose of the summit, an initiative of the White House, is to gather entrepreneurs at all stages of development, business leaders, mentors, and government officials.

Kenyans are excited to welcome the president to his father’s homeland.

While he is here, folks in the reproductive health community are taking the opportunity to call on President Obama to address a painful rule that places restrictions on the care women can receive with international foreign aid dollars: the Helms amendment.

The Helms amendment came about in 1973, during the backlash of the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision. Attached to the Foreign Assistance Act, the Helms amendment prohibits the use of U.S. foreign assistance funds for the performance of abortion “as a method of family planning.” This, along with the Global Gag Rule, is hurting women in countries where U.S. foreign assistance is supposed to be helping. Even in places where abortion is legal in some cases, it has been incorrectly implemented as a complete ban on abortion with absolutely no exceptions, including  for rape, incest, or life-threatening circumstances.

Planned Parenthood and other organizations are fighting to ultimately get rid of the Helms amendment. And now, with President Obama coming to town, a broad coalition of groups are asking President Obama to take time to meet with U.S. government partners who are implementing health and gender-based violence programs, their local civil society partners, and the women they serve to see what the real impact of this harmful U.S. policy.  

While we understand the President cannot overturn the entire amendment on his own, he does have the authority to correctly implement this policy and provide for exceptions. We believe fully that:

No woman should be turned away from the care she needs, especially when she is raped or faces a pregnancy which threatens her life.

No woman or girl should be forced to drop out of school because she was raped and became pregnant.

No woman should be left to die from complications of unsafe abortion, when a safe and legal abortion is available in her own country.

*Image from PPFA.org

If you agree that #HelmsHurts, then tweet President Obama (@POTUS) and let him know! We even have some sample tweets you can use below: 

1 in 3 women/girls experiences violence in her lifetime: http://ow.ly/EqEkJ | Learn more from @ppglobe #HelmsHurts @POTUS 

For 30% of women worldwide, their first sexual experience was forced. #HelmsHurts @ppglobe @POTUS 

Up to half of all victims of sexual assault around the world are girls under the age of 16. #HelmsHurts @ppglobe @POTUS

There's a critical link between eliminating violence & promoting education, equality, health care access. #reprojustice. #HelmsHurts @POTUS

At Planned Parenthood, we are proud to combat violence every day through education, services and empowerment. #HelmsHurts @POTUS 

Asante,

Erica, Planned Parenthood Global Youth Ambassador

P.S. Why is it called Helms? An early victory for the anti-abortion advocates came with the 1973 passage of the Helms amendment to the Foreign Assistance Act—a provision named for its sponsor, the late, stridently anti-abortion Sen. Jesse Helms (R-NC). https://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/gpr/16/3/gpr160309.html 

Infographic from PAI.org