8 Countries Vow to Counter Trump by Increasing Abortions
Eight countries have joined a fundraising drive to fill gaps from President Donald Trump’s executive order to ban U.S. aid to groups that provide or promote abortions overseas.
Trump reinstated the “Mexico City policy” Jan. 23 in one of his first moves as president. The policy has been in place under every Republican president since Ronald Reagan, but this time around it caused outcry in several liberal countries around the world.
The Netherlands was the first country to promise more funding for abortions worldwide. Other countries have since joined an effort to fill a $600 million gap in abortion funding created by the Mexico City policy.
The eight countries that have joined the campaign so far are Sweden, the Netherlands, Denmark, Belgium, Luxembourg, Finland, Canada and Cape Verde. They will meet for a joint fundraising event in Brussels next month.
“If women don’t have control over their bodies and their own fate it can have very serious consequences for global goals of gender rights and global poverty eradication,” Sweden’s Deputy Prime Minister Isabella Lovin told Reuters Thursday.
The French government recently criminalized information websites that “exert psychological or moral pressure” on pregnant women to not go through with an abortion. Violators will face up to two years in prison and a 30,000 euro ($32,000) fine.
Conservative lawmakers and the Catholic church call the ban a threat to freedom of expression in France.
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