Grammy-Nominated Singer/Songwriter Teams with the Center for Health and Gender Equity to stop the global gag rule and Support the Global HER Act
Today, the Center for Health and Gender Equity (CHANGE) released “Halsey for Global HER” starring Grammy-nominated singer/songwriter, Halsey. In the video produced by ART NOT WAR, Halsey explains the many ways in which the global gag rule has serious life-threatening consequences for women around the world and also poses a threat to women domestically. The global gag rule was among one of the first acts signed by President Trump in January. The rule places a ban on funding for any international organization that provides or even discusses abortions with patients, other than in cases of rape, incest, or life endangerment. Trump took the rule one step further denying all global health assistance, even for programs that address HIV and infectious diseases like malaria, Zika and Ebola.
The singer/songwriter implores citizens to support the Global HER Act, a bill introduced by Senator Jeanne Shaheenand Representative Nita Lowey, with a bipartisan group of nearly 200 lawmakers. The Global HER Act ensures that eligible organizations across the world can keep providing health services with U.S. funds, while continuing to provide abortion-related services with other non-U.S. funds.
Serra Sippel, president of CHANGE, said, “We are grateful to Halsey for her help and commitment as we build a movement to confront these draconian attacks on the health and safety of women around the world. Her support will give much needed momentum to CHANGE’s efforts, along with many others, to resist and reverse President Trump’s disastrous expansion of the global gag rule.”
Halsey said, “Although it may seem like this kind of gag rule could never happen in the USA due to our constitutional right to free speech, make no mistake: it absolutely could happen here. And it’s part of an overall pattern and plan to deny women in the USA and abroad their right to choose what happens to their own bodies.”
Hauwa Shekarau, a Nigerian activist and director of Ipas in Nigeria, who also appears in the video said, “The Trump Administration is playing politics with the lives of women in Africa. The global gag rule means that more women in Sub-Saharan Africa may die from unwanted pregnancies and unsafe abortion.”
For more information go to: WWW.GENDERHEALTH.ORG
