Advocacy in Whispers: The Impact of the Usaid Global Gag Rule Upon Free Speech and Free Association in the Context of Abortion Law Reform in Three East African Countries

In 2001, President George W. Bush restricted the participation in democratic processes for non-governmental organizations (NGOs) abroad by reinstating a policy restricting family planning funding granted by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The restriction sharply curtailed the ability to speak and to associate freely for organizations working to preserve women's health and lives.Organizations in Uganda, Ethiopia, and Kenya had begun to identify the problems associated with their countries' restrictive abortion laws. In these three countries, as elsewhere in the world, illegal abortions are unsafe and a major cause of the high rates of maternal mortality and morbidity. By 2001, efforts toward abortion law reform were underway but US policy on abortion curtailed advocates' efforts.