World

Sweden To Stop Funding Organizations That Follow Trump’s ‘Gag Rule’ On Abortion

REUTERS/Darren Staples

Daily Caller News Foundation logo
Grace Carr Reporter
Font Size:

Sweden’s international aid agency (Sida) announced that it will stop giving money to reproductive health organizations that adhere to a U.S. “gag” rule preventing federal funding of foreign aid groups that facilitate or provide abortions.

The announcement comes after Trump reinstated a long-standing policy requiring organizations that receive “family planning” funds from the U.S. to confirm they don’t provide abortions or abortion services. The State Department also said it would stop funding the United Nations Population Fund in April, an organization whose mission centers around family planning.

Now Sweden says it will cut off funding to groups that adhere to the rule.

“The American policy is at loggerheads with the Swedish position,” said Sida Director-General Carin Jamtin. “This is about women themselves having the right to decide when, and if, they want to have children and how many they want to have,” Jamtin added.

Sweden spoke out against the executive order earlier this year as well, showing its displeasure with the president’s decision by joining with seven other countries to raise money in an effort to replace losses that abortion clinics would suffer from because of the U.S. ban.

“Sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) are a prerequisite for being able to attend school and being active on the labor market,” Jamtin said, adding that “We have to defend SRHR and the right to abortion for girls and women in poor countries,” according to Newsweek.

Every Republican president since Reagan has enforced the rule.

Follow Grace on Twitter.

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.