By Bunmi Yekini
A proposed expansion of the long-standing U.S. “global gag rule” would undermine sexual and reproductive health services worldwide, disrupt HIV programmes and silence healthcare providers, global health advocates said on Friday.
First introduced in 1984 under President Ronald Reagan, the policy bars foreign organisations receiving U.S. funding from providing abortion-related services or advocacy. Reports expected later on Friday indicate the current administration plans to widen the scope of the rule far beyond reproductive health, extending restrictions to advocacy, education, anti-discrimination protections and legal reform across all programmes, regardless of the source of funding.
Advocates say the move would deepen the impact of a policy they argue has already damaged global health systems, limiting what civil society groups and healthcare providers can say and do, even when services are backed by non-U.S. funds.
“The expanded gag rule restricts the ability of organisations to engage in advocacy and education programmes, discrimination protections, and legal reform anywhere in the world,” AVAC, an international HIV prevention advocacy group, said in a statement. “This will silence healthcare providers, undermine civil society, and deny people access to essential information and services.”
AVAC Executive Director Mitchell Warren said broadening the policy would further politicise U.S. foreign assistance and weaken global responses to public health threats.
“This cruel gag rule is bad politics and bad policy,” Warren said. “Expanding it represents further weaponisation of U.S. funding to impose ideology at the expense of lives and livelihoods.”
He warned that limiting what health providers can discuss or offer would place women, girls and LGBTQI+ people at higher risk of poor sexual health outcomes, including HIV and other infections, while eroding the systems needed to respond to health emergencies and future pandemics.
Public health groups argue the proposed expansion threatens evidence-based care by cutting off support to organisations that provide a wide range of services, from family planning and HIV prevention to community education and legal support.
AVAC called on U.S. lawmakers to reject the policy and any expansion of it, urging Washington to centre its global health investments on science, human rights and public health rather than politics.
“People’s needs, not politics, must be at the heart of what drives U.S. engagement,” the group said.