Reimagining U.S. Foreign Assistance
The U.S. government used to be the largest donor in family planning assistance at $400 million a year. There has been an explicit loss of U.S. leadership and resources in contemporary global health and foreign aid, with significant, negative impacts on supply and health outcomes. Anu Kumar, President and CEO at Ipas, sits down to talk with us about the current status of U.S. foreign assistance and how we can reimagine it for the better.
The U.S. government has not been supporting abortion care for 50 years since the Helms Amendment was passed in 1973, and contraception has been facing increasing attacks. The campaign of incorrectly and harmfully equating contraceptives with abortifacients is coming to a head. In addition, there is $9.7 billion dollars’ worth of contraception impacted by Trump’s foreign aid freeze, which are now sitting in a Belgian warehouse. But we can imagine a more comprehensive, better performing foreign assistance: a reduced transactional quality and the ability for recipient countries to form their own assistance delivery.
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Transcript
Jennie: Welcome to rePROs Fight Back, a podcast on all things related to sexual and reproductive health, rights, and justice. [music intro]
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Follow Ipas on X, Bluesky, and Instagram to learn more about their vital work.
Be as informed as possible. Find more reading on foreign assistance and abortion access, as well as what can be done to improve the global situation. You can also find Ipas’ Read to Resist reading list here.
Nonprofits and abortion funds are still very active in fighting for sexual and reproductive health and rights, despite what’s happening at the governmental level. You can find your local abortion fund, or abortion funds in restrictive areas, here. If you can, give monthly rather than one time.