In 2001 the Bush Administration reapproved the Glogal Gag Rule, which restricts foreign non-governmental organisations that receive USAID family planning funds from using their own, non-U.S. funds to provide legal abortion services, lobby their own governments for abortion law reform, or even provide accurate medical counseling or referrals regarding abortion.

Now let's put things in perspective: the US government, American philanthropic foundations and the donations of citizens provide more funding backing reproductive rights worldwide than any other country in the world. Effectively, it means millions of dollars each year are allocated to many programs apart from the ones tackling unsafe abortion and supporting family planning.

Andrew Arkutu (managing director of Pathfinder International in Ghana) and Rosemarie Muganda Onyando (executive director of the center for the study of adolescence in Kenya) both described the great damage done by the Glogal Gag rule to African NGOs: many family planning clinics closed down (especially in rural areas, where FP was the main provider of services). This means a rising number of abortions performed unsafely, at the risk of the mother.

What came out of the discussion is that there are a few ways to escape the gag rule: one is for non-profits to refuse the rule and therefore not receive US funding, and the other one is, well... to vote Democrat for the next elections.

Related: artist Heather Corinna's photographic take on the decree.