OP;ED The Irony of the Global Gag Rule

Today is ironic. A mere three months ago we were going to go a step further than electing a black president and elect America’s first female president. Women were finally going to gain the credibility that we, and generations before us, have been fighting for. Then, ironically, we took an enormous leap backward and elected former reality television star, Donald Trump.

After his “Access Hollywood” comments, after calling Hillary Clinton a “nasty woman” on live television, after repeated public misogynistic comments, I still tried to remain positive. Then, I saw a photograph posted on Twitter of Trump and 6 other men signing the Global Gag Rule with the caption “as long as you live, you’ll never see a photograph of seven women signing a legislation about what men can do with their reproductive organs.” The gag rule prohibits Non-Governmental Organizations from being involved with abortions because the United States will not fund it. This means that the organization may not provide abortions, provide referrals, council patients, or even hand out condoms which prevent the spread of HIV. Perhaps they call it the Global Gag Rule because I had to cover my mouth in an attempt to prevent myself from ruining my computer with the lunch I had eaten an hour before.

Ironically, just days after an estimated 3.2 million people marched in all 50 states and 32 different countries in support of women’s equality, Trump passed the Global Gag Rule. To put this number in perspective, there were 570,557 metro trips in Washington on Trump’s inauguration day versus 1,001,613 metro trips on the day of the women’s march. Nearly two times the amount of people who showed up to the presidential inauguration, showed up to an event to protest the inauguration and march for what they believe in. At the event, women’s activist Gloria Steinem referred to this gargantuan display of passion as “the upside of the downside.”

To echo Gloria Steinem and to even further the irony, this unprecedented event would not have happened with without the election of a misogynistic president. I was nearly about to even thank Trump for igniting this passion within 3.2 million people around the globe. I almost believed that he would have listened, as a democratic leader should. I almost believed he would think about, if not the millions of women that marched for their rights last Saturday day, then his mother, his wife and his daughter. I almost believed he would realize that women make up half of the population and without them, the world would not exist.

But then, he signed the global gag rule. Which, by the way, is supposed to be “pro-life” yet has shown no statistical evidence of reducing the amount of abortions conducted, and instead forces women to choose unsafe abortion methods. This policy will result in 6.5 million accidental pregnancies, 2.2 million unsafe abortions, and 21,700 women dying in pregnancy or

childbirth. Ironically, “pro-life” is not pro-life at all. Even more ironically, after millions of women around the globe marched for the rights to their own mind and body, 7 men ignored their efforts and chose their fates with just a signature on a piece of paper.