In a widely expected move last week, which has been repeated by every US Democratic Party President since 1975 when US President Reagan first signed it in the population conference in Mexico City, the newest Democratic US President Biden signed an executive memorandum to immediately rescind the Global Gag Rule (GGR). Thus, it is gone – at least for the next four years. To make this permanent, however, it will have to be legislated by the US Congress.
The Biden administration also released a statement last week saying it would seek to codify the Supreme Court’s Roe v Wade decision, i.e. establishing a nationwide right to abortion in federal law to protect it from constant court challenges. This is especially important now that the US Supreme Court has become a Republican Party-supporting majority court, which can be counted upon to rule against abortion wherever possible.
This is the actual White House memorandum (opening paragraph above) that deals with the GGR, Title X funding (for contraception and other SRH services), USAID funding, UNFPA funding, and Trump’s anti-human rights Geneva Consensus Declaration.
So far, nothing has been done (yet, give it time) to rescind the Hyde Amendment, the Helms Amendment, or the requirement to receive mifepristone in-person again. The latter, last-minute policy decision by the US Supreme Court, in spite of the Covid-19 pandemic being out of control in many parts of the USA. was personally requested by Donald Trump as a parting gift. It discredited the new majority on the Supreme Court beyond redemption. How Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan, the only people with integrity left on the Court, can stand it, remains to be learned.
FURTHER READING: Politico, by Alice Miranda Ollstein, 28 January 2021