- As a result of its refusal to sign the global gag rule, MSI Reproductive Choices will lose $14 million of funding from the US.
- Unless other donors step up to meet this challenge, 2.6 million people will lose access to MSI-supported sexual and reproductive health services in countries including Zimbabwe, Uganda, Burkina Faso and Ethiopia
- If USAID funding isn’t replaced, MSI estimates that the loss of its services during Trump’s administration (2025 to 2028) could result in 2.4 million unintended pregnancies.
MSI is launching a new campaign highlighting the devastating impact the global gag rule will have on women’s lives and reproductive rights and calling on people to ‘Choose Choice. Now.’
January 25, 2025: MSI Reproductive Choices is sending an ‘unequivocal’ message to Donald Trump and his administration that agreeing to the global gag rule would be a violation of its mission and it will never sign.
Re-enacted today by President Trump, the global gag rule blocks US government funding for non-US organisations if they tell a woman abortion is a legal option in her country, refer her to another provider or advocate for abortion rights with their own money.
As a result, MSI will lose $14m of funding from the U.S. with the potential to reach 2.6 million women with high-quality sexual and reproductive health services. It estimates that the loss of these services would result in an additional 2.4 million unintended pregnancies.
Carole Sekimpi, senior Africa director at MSI Reproductive Choices, commented:
“Donald Trump has reimposed the global gag rule, leaving organisations like MSI faced with a ‘choice’: sign the policy and stop providing comprehensive sexual and reproductive healthcare, or decline and lose desperately needed U.S. funding. Our answer is unequivocal. We decline.
“Contrary to its stated intent of “protecting life”, research has proven that this policy does the opposite. When women and girls are denied fundamental reproductive health services then unintended pregnancies, unsafe abortions and maternal deaths increase. Signing would be a violation of our mission to protect women and save lives, and we can never agree to these conditions.
“The last time Trump controlled the White House, the loss of USAID meant that our teams providing contraception and other essential reproductive healthcare to women and girls in some of the most marginalised communities in the world were forced to stop their work. It’s heartbreaking that it is happening again.
“But in the face of adversity, we will stand strong. At MSI, we are committed to increasing access to reproductive choice and giving women the control that they deserve over their bodies, their health and their lives. And we are not alone. The global gag rule attempts to silence women, hurt communities and undermine their care. We must stand together to resist this attack and fight for reproductive freedom for all.”
Impact around the world
Already facing one of the world’s strictest abortion bans, in Madagascar it wasn’t abortion that was curtailed when the last gag rule was imposed. When MSI lost its U.S. funding and was forced to cut its team of health workers from 539 to 139, it left women and girls without the contraception, cervical cancer care, and reproductive choices they had come to rely on.
A Guttmacher study, developed with insights from MSI, found that the gag rule also stalled and even reversed progress on expanding modern contraception in Ethiopia and Ugandai.
This time, one of the worst affected countries will be Zimbabwe, where MSI’s programme, Population Services Zimbabwe (PSZ), was awarded $9 million by USAID in October 2023 to deliver a five year programme of work. This money supports outreach teams who travel to the most remote parts of Zimbabwe to provide free contraceptive services to women who have little to no other options. With the gag rule in place, 1.3 million women in Zimbabwe won’t receive the care they need, leading to an additional 461,200 unintended pregnancies and 1,400 maternal deaths.
MSI analysis shows there are 690 million women of reproductive age living in countries receiving USAID funding. This accounts for 36% of all women of reproductive age worldwide, meaning one in three women of reproductive age live in countries that will be affected by the global gag ruleii.
Beth Schlachter, MSI Reproductive Choices’ senior director of US external relations said:
“Trump’s return to the White House jeopardises decades of progress on gender equality and threatens the erosion of fundamental human and reproductive rights in the United States and globally.
“His Supreme Court appointments have already led to the overturning of Roe v Wade denying lifesaving care to millions of Americans. As a global abortion provider, we know that there will also be dire consequences for women far beyond the borders of the United States, starting with his signature on the global gag rule. This ideologically driven policy undermines the very goals of U.S. foreign assistance, by putting women at risk, violating medical principles and trampling on democratic values.
“Added to the accelerated attacks on sexual, reproductive and LGBTQ+ rights that we have seen fomented by the Trump administration and the defunding of the World Health Organisation, there will be formidable challenges in the years to come. But while we are sober about what lies ahead, we remain resilient and resolute. With potentially more organisations gagged than ever before, MSI and our partners are committed to pushing forward access to abortion and contraceptive services and to speaking out louder than ever. The evidence and vast majority of people support a woman’s right to choose, and through working in partnership we will continue to harness this strength to unapologetically advocate for abortion, ensuring the voices and solutions of the women we serve continue to be heard and that their lives continue to matter.”
Choose Choice. Now.
To highlight the devasting impact the global gag rule will have on women’s lives and reproductive rights, MSI is launching a campaign calling on people to: ‘Choose Choice. Now’.
Featuring close up shots of women’s faces with Trump’s distinctive signature etched over their lips to show their mouths sewn shut, the campaign in partnership with the GOOD Agency, aims to show that by signing the global gag rule, Trump is also signing away women’s rights, voices and lives.
As the gag rule was signed, MSI’s Associate Director of Advocacy Sarah Shaw drove a ‘Choose Choice’ Digivan around London, including the U.S. Embassy, to demonstrate international outrage at the signing of the policy.
i https://www.guttmacher.org/report/evidence-for-ending-global-gag-rule
ii Calculated using UN population data from the UN Population Division Data Portal covering the 40 priority countries for USAID funding.
Notes to Editor
For interviews, further information and photography of the Choice Choice. Now. Campaign and MSI’s outreach work in Zimbabwe, please contact: [email protected]
Tel: +44 (0)7769 166 516
About MSI Reproductive Choices
MSI Reproductive Choices is a global reproductive healthcare provider serving over 93,000 women and girls every day with contraception, abortion and post-abortion care.
Read more about the impact of the Global Gag Rule and Project 2025 on sexual and reproductive health and rights globally.
About GOOD Agency
GOOD is an independent purpose-driven strategy and creative agency. They are an employee-owned company and take pride in being the UK’s highest-ranking B Corp creative agency. GOOD works with some of the UK’s largest commercial and charity brands to maximise their positive impact on the world. They are driven by a passion to use brilliant communication to create positive social and environmental change. Their work has helped raise over £1.5b for charities and has transformed international businesses through Purpose.
