The Global Gag Rule, from the Perspective of the Women’s Movement in Peru
U.S. Foreign Policy at the United Nations
U.S. Support for Reproductive Rights Abroad
Treaty for the Rights of Women (CEDAW)
Myths and Realities: Debunking USAID’s Analysis of the Global Gag Rule
The Global Gag Rule: Current Information
GGR Expansions Endanger Women's Lives
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United States Foreign Policy at the United Nations
The Center for Reproductive Rights seeks to ensure that the United States rigorously protects and promotes reproductive health and rights in its foreign policy. Thirty years ago the U.S. assumed a leadership role in the international effort to expand access to voluntary family planning and related health services. At the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), the U.S. was a key leader in orienting international population assistance toward an increased emphasis on providing quality, affordable reproductive health services within the framework of women's human rights.

Women’s Reproductive Rights in the United States: A Shadow Report
U.S. Support for the ICPD Programme of Action
However, the U.S. has fallen short in its leadership in this crucial area of foreign policy. The greatest impediment is the anti-choice/anti-family planning ideology of some conservatives in Congress and in the current Bush Administration.

At the United Nations General Assembly Special Session on Children in May 2002, the Bush administration advocated for efforts to restrict sexual education and information to "abstinence-only until marriage" and claimed that the words "reproductive health services" implied access to abortion. The Bush administration has turned a blind eye to the glaring needs of adolescents for information and services to protect themselves from unwanted pregnancy, and HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmissible infections. In the end, the U.S. agreed to retain references to reproductive and sexual health care, and in return was granted its bid to weaken references to the importance of the Convention on the Rights of the Child in the agreement.

Coalition Letters Related to the UN Special Session on Children

Now more than ever, it is crucial to advocate for the Bush administration to remember its international commitments through ICPD and other international human rights agreements and insist that the reproductive rights and health of women and adolescents around the world are taken seriously and not ignored.

Worldwide: At the United Nations

Worldwide: ICPD Conference Ten Year Review

Worldwide: Beijing Conference Ten Year Review

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