While Democratic presidential candidates Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton have not been asked about abortion much in the primary debates, their campaigns have both pledged to take action against the Helms Amendment in a step that even President Barack Obama, a staunch defender of reproductive rights, has not taken.
Helms is a harmful amendment that came to be in the wake of the landmark Supreme Court case Roe v. Wade in 1973. It has been interpreted for more than 40 years as a policy that prevents U.S. foreign aid from funding abortion — even in cases of rape or incest.
The Helms Amendment is particularly topical in the wake of the Zika virus, which has spurred countries where abortion is illegal to tell women not to have babies. Women on Web, an international group that provides advice for women in countries where abortion is banned, has received more than a thousand emails from terrified women in those countries desperately pleading for abortion pills, according to The Washington Post.
A Helms Amendment repeal would allow the United States to help women affected by Zika who are stuck in an impossible situation. Many of their countries do not offer enough access to birth control, have no comprehensive sexual education or experience high rates of sexual violence.
As The Huffington Post’s Laura Bassett reported, the Helms Amendment also severely set back abortion rights in Kenya, a country where rates of sexual assault and maternal death are incredibly high.
In 2010, in the midst of an epidemic of women dying from unsafe abortions, Kenya legalized the procedure for health reasons. The country repealed it just three years later, fearing disapproval from the United States, Bassett reported. Because the United States is the single largest donor to women’s health programs in Kenya, providers worry their funding will be cut, so they stop offering abortion services.
Obama cannot make Helms go away on his own, but he can stipulate that exceptions should be made for things like rape and life endangerment. It’s a small, relatively easy change, but the Obama administration has not done anything about it. In 2015, Obama said he was “deeply committed” to protecting a woman’s right to abortion, The Washington Times reported. And he certainly has not been shy about using his executive power in the last year of his presidency, so it’s frustrating that he has not made the change here.
With that said, it’s also not a huge mystery as to why the Obama administration might be hesitant. Republicans in Congress could slash aid funding in retaliation. 2016 Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio, who opposes abortion no matter the circumstance, stalled the appointment of the U.S. Agency for International Development administrator Gayle Smith because she was “noncommittal” about Helms on a questionnaire, Bassett reported.
Religious organizations are also major providers of international humanitarian care. The administration may worry about jeopardizing grants to these organizations if they are unwilling to provide the minimum federal care.
Nevertheless, the situation is dire and is probably only going to get worse, especially in the wake of health crises like the Zika epidemic. The Hyde Amendment, which is essentially the same as the Helms Amendment but domestic, allows Medicaid to pay for abortions only in cases of rape, incest and life endangerment. At minimum, Helms should match this. In a 2015 Quinnipiac University poll, nearly 80 percent of American voters polled said abortion should be legal in cases of rape or incest. It’s incredibly unfair to apply that approval to just this country and not abroad.
As I have said before, abortion is one of the most politically polarizing issues. But when a lack of proper abortion care is causing global health travesties the United States could easily help fix, it’s time to put aside the politics.
While the United States has been bogged down with arguing, countries like Norway have shown stringent dedication to making abortion a safe and comprehensive part of foreign aid. But there is only so much one country can do without universal cooperation, and the United States’ current policy is a massive roadblock.
Hopefully the Obama administration will act to correct this amendment while he is still in office, because while both Democratic candidates have made campaign promises on this issue, there is no guarantee either of them will be in office come January 2017.
I’m glad most liberals are for abortion.