The Dutch government has proposed setting up an international fund to help women’s health charities – who have been hit by Donald Trump’s recent ban on aid to groups who give women information about terminations.
The move to offer international aid was made by the Dutch minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation, Lilianne Ploumen, in response to the US government’s recently reinstated ‘Mexico City Policy’, The Independent reports.
The policy, or ‘global gag rule’, was one of the first actions taken by Mr Trump after he entered office as the US President last week.
It prohibits any US funding for any international aid groups which give women information about abortion – even if they do not perform the procedures.
The reinstated policy reverses Barack Obama’s executive order that lifted the ban back in 2009.
Ms Ploumen has invited the international community, and those concerned by the US President’s actions, to support the fund to compensate for the financial setback.
“This has far-reaching consequences. First of all, for all those women who have to make, if they want to have a child, a choice, but also for their husbands and children and society as a whole. Banning abortion does not lead to fewer abortions. It leads to more irresponsible practices in back rooms and more maternal deaths.”
The minister backed up her claims with figures from Marie Stopes International, one group that will lose funding under the initiative, that as many as 14 women a day could die as a result of the gag.
The policy is generally favoured by Republican governments as key political support is largely drawn from a conservative Christian base.
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