STOCKHOLM: A Swedish government agency on Tuesday threatened to cut aid to NGOs which have suspended abortion services over fears of losing US funding due to a decree signed by President Donald Trump.
In one of his first acts as president, Trump in January reintroduced the global gag rule, enacted by Ronald Reagan in 1984, which prohibits foreign charities from using US federal funding to provide abortion services, information, counselling or referrals.
The Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), which aims to tackle global poverty, said it has decided that “partner organizations which receive aid to work on sexual and reproductive health and rights but also accept the president’s orders, can no longer receive aid.”
“Sida’s support for sexual and reproductive health and rights cannot be compromised,” Director General, Carin Jamtin, said in a statement.
“This concerns women having the right to decide when, and if, they want to have children and how many they want,” she said, adding that unsafe abortions represent around 13 percent of maternal deaths in the world.
The Netherlands estimates that a €600 million ($640 million) annual funding gap for NGOs was caused by Trump’s ban.
Sweden spends about 7 percent of its annual development aid on issues related to sexuality.
Sweden to cut aid to groups applying US abortion ban
Sweden to cut aid to groups applying US abortion ban
