A letter to Barack Obama from US religious groups claims that the recent law ‘denies millions of women and girls accessibility to secure abortion services’. Photograph: AP
Much more than 30 US faith-primarily based groups are calling on Barack Obama to clarify then repeal a law that restricts aid funding for abortion companies.
In a letter to the president, published on Wednesday, organisations from the Christian, Jewish and Muslim faiths urge clarification on how the Helms amendment ought to be interpreted.
The amendment, introduced in 1973, bans US aid cash currently being utilized to fund abortion as a technique of family members organizing or to “motivate or coerce any person to practise abortions”. But below the law, funds can be utilized to shell out for terminations in circumstances of rape and incest, or when a woman’s existence is in danger.
Nonetheless, the law has been broadly interpreted as a complete ban on funding for abortion services, irrespective of circumstance and even in countries the place terminations are legal.
The groups describe the continued ambiguity as immoral. “Though we come from various religious traditions, we are united in our belief that females and girls who encounter sexual violence and rape deserve meaningful access to the total variety of reproductive healthcare choices, such as secure abortion,” reads the letter, coordinated by the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Option and the Centre for Health and Gender Equity. “We feel that it is unacceptable – and in reality immoral – for our nation to proceed to apply the Helms amendment incorrectly.”
The letter continues: “When a pregnancy is a end result of rape or incest, or when a pregnancy is a risk to the daily life of a female, safe abortion can and ought to be produced available and accessible, and US foreign assistance should support such accessibility.
“Unfortunately, the Helms amendment does just the opposite: it denies hundreds of thousands of females and girls entry to protected abortion solutions. Even though in the end we look for elimination of this law, at a minimal the executive branch of the US government ought to clarify existing law so that in the situations of rape, incest and lifestyle endangerment, US foreign assistance is permitted to support abortion access.”
Campaigners have been calling for a repeal of the law for many years, saying it undermined US attempts to decrease maternal mortality. A report last year by the Guttmacher institute stated the amendment had constrained the potential of the US “to fully address the troubles of unsafe abortion and maternal mortality and morbidity”.
The letter follows the launch in December of the Break Barriers campaign, which urged Obama to ensure access to complete post-rape care – which includes abortion solutions – for women and women in regions going through crisis or conflict.
It comes a month ahead of planet leaders meet in London for a summit on ending sexual violence in conflict. The US secretary of state, John Kerry, is expected to attend.
Faith leaders urge Obama to axe law restricting US abortion assist
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