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PRESS RELEASE 8 November 2024: Donald Trump has been announced the winner of the U.S. election, threatening reproductive health and rights around the world. A return to Trump’s policies - and the potential implementation of Project 2025 - will cause millions of people to lose access to contraception, abortion, and other critical healthcare services, both in the US and around the world. Trump will reinstate the Global Gag Rule (GGR) upon coming to office in January next year. The GGR causes significant and specific harm to IPPF, and will amount to an approximate loss of US$60 million in USAID funding.  Regardless of who is in office, the United States does not fund abortions abroad, as stipulated by the Helms Amendment, which has been in effect for more than 50 years. But the GGR takes those restrictions much further: The last version that was in place during the Trump administration's first term from 2017 - 2021 forbid non-US organisations that take U.S. global health funding from any abortion-related activities -  regardless of the source of funds they use to provide those services. Abortion service delivery and advocacy are core components of our mandate, and we consider them non-negotiable human rights. IPPF has never, and will never, sign the GGR.  Thirteen of our MAs would lose USAID funds, with six MAs currently managing multi-million dollar funding, namely Cote d'Ivoire, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Malawi, Mauritania and Togo. In Malawi, the Family Planning Association of Malawi (FPAM) is the main family planning and adolescent health partner for two major USAID integrated health projects. Their work has improved equity in access to contraceptive services. In Ethiopia, the Family Guidance Association of Ethiopia (FGAE) is the lead local FP partner on USAID’s youth, nutrition, and health communication projects. IPPF is also leading ExpandPF, a large multi-country USAID project in Francophone West Africa, which started in 2023 and is planned to continue until 2028. It is expected to reach nearly 1.2 million contraceptive users.  Abruptly cutting this work short will have tragic consequences for the local population, clinics, outreach, and community services and programs.  Under Project 2025, Trump’s policy advisors have proposed an extreme new expansion of the GGR to include all foreign assistance to US and non-US organisations, including humanitarian funding.  Marie-Evelyne Petrus-Barry, Regional Director for the Africa Regional Office of IPPF:   “Global NGOs, reproductive health advocates, and women’s rights groups like our own were closely watching the US election, hoping for a more progressive stance for comprehensive sexual and reproductive healthcare. The wider impacts of the GGR on our movement and sexual and reproductive health and rights access and progress harms everyone in the ecosystem.”  Dr Alvaro Bermejo, Director-General, International Planned Parenthood Federation:  “We are now facing a future where the alt-right are further emboldened, and without urgent opposition by civil society to the current course of action, the Trump-Vance Administration will expand the pathway already prepared. The threat to the sexual and reproductive justice agenda now demands a deliberate, and unified, effort from IPPF and our global movement. We remain committed to a future where your choices, your identity, and your freedoms are protected.”  For media inquiries, or to arrange an interview with our spokespeople, contact IPPF’s press office at: media@ippf.org     About the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF)  IPPF is a global healthcare provider and a leading advocate of sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) for all. Led by a courageous and determined group of women, IPPF was founded in 1952 at the Third International Planned Parenthood Conference. Today, we are a movement of 150 Member Associations and Collaborative Partners with a presence in over 146 countries. Our work is wide-ranging, including comprehensive sex education, provision of contraceptives, safe abortion, and maternal care and responding to humanitarian crises.  We pride ourselves on being local through our members and global through our network. At the heart of our mission is the provision of – and advocacy in support of – integrated healthcare to anyone who needs it regardless of race, gender, sex, income, and crucially no matter how remote.    Photo credits: Rutgers/Esther Ruth Mbabazi/Uganda - IPPF/Moctar MENTA - IPPF/Hannah Maule-ffinch/Ukraine - IPPF/Hannah Maule-ffinch/Cook Islands - Wara Vargas - IPPF/Hannah Maule-ffinch - IPPF/Hannah Maule-ffinch/Maldives  

Haz click aquí para leer este posicionamiento en español The International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) is deeply concerned about the escalating violence and political instability in Haiti, particularly its disproportionate impact on women and girls since March 2024. This crisis is expected to leave 3,000 pregnant women without essential medical care, leading to nearly 450 women experiencing life-threatening childbirth complications. With almost 580,000 Haitians displaced, women and girls are experiencing an alarming surge in sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), including rampant sexual assaults, torture, and collective rape by armed groups. From January to March 2024, there were 1,793 SGBV incidents reported. Conflict-related insecurity has also significantly increased negative coping mechanisms, contributing to the rise in SGBV, as well as sexually transmitted infections and HIV.  The ongoing violence is preventing access to essential sexual and reproductive healthcare services, endangering the lives of mothers and newborns. Our partner in Haiti, the Haiti Midwives Association, informed us, ‘the gangs prohibit the movement of motorcycles and pedestrians, threatening and sometimes shooting in the air to terrorise us further. Due to these difficult conditions, fewer and fewer patients are attending the hospital, whether for prenatal consultations, deliveries or postnatal care.” This inaccessibility has led to a significant increase in maternal and infant mortality.  Eugenia López Uribe, Regional Director of the IPPF Americas & the Caribbean, said, “Humanitarian aid must be granted access through local organisations, such as our partner the Haiti Midwives Association, and their wellbeing must be guaranteed in this process. Women and girls can no longer wait! Our partner has provided access to vital emergency services such as pregnancy, childbirth and postpartum care, as well as care after sexual violence for 20 years. However, since February, they have been forced to stop their activities because of the imminent risks they face as women living in Port-au-Prince and surrounding areas.” On this International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict, IPPF calls for zero tolerance toward any form of SGBV and demands the immediate protection of Haitian women, children, and those most at risk. We strongly call for unhindered humanitarian access to allow aid into Haiti. This aid must be designed and controlled by local NGOs and aid workers, and any foreign peacekeepers must safeguard and protect local communities - in particular their sexual and reproductive rights - so mistakes of the past are not repeated.  Let’s not forget: Haiti's poverty and instability has been shaped by decades of foreign occupation and colonialism. The international community owes Haiti more than mere condolences; they owe an unwavering commitment to a future where human rights, including sexual and reproductive health rights are respected and protected, and nobody is left behind.