Trump’s decision to deny US funding to foreign NGOs will affect women in India

Ten women die in India every day due to unsafe abortions and more than five million women risk having unsafe abortions this year because of the lack of access to safe abortion services. “Despite it being legal, a large number of women are not seeking abortion in safe places. It’s mainly due to three main factors: Firstly, in many cases, there are not many safe abortion providers close to the community. Secondly, then there is a huge stigma around abortion and finally not many women know that abortion is legal in the country. The global gag rule has a conditionality which does not allow local NGOs from talking about abortion or abortion-related services or even referring to abortion. This would be a huge barrier in moving these 5 million abortions to safe abortion services” says Vinoj Manning, Executive Director, Ipas Development Foundation.