The gag rule ignores current U.S laws. While the public policy debate on abortion continues domestically, U.S. law currently preserves the right to safe and legal abortion services. The gag rule puts the U.S. government in the position of telling private organizations in other countries where abortion is legal not to use their own money to provide such services. And the gag rule takes aim at the right of other countries to democratically arrive at their own conclusions. Even in the United States, where levels of contraceptive use are high, there are more than 3 million unintended pregnancies each year.
Women overseas face an even greater challenge to planning their families.
Some 150 million married women indicate a desire to plan their families but are not currently using a contraceptive method. This unmet demand is only going to grow, since half of the six billion people alive today are under 25 years old. Family planning is a basic health care service. Family planning is a vital part of basic health care services-and a basic right. Every sixty seconds, a woman dies in pregnancy or childbirth.