US Foreign Policy Criminalize Abortion

According to human rights law, the right for a person to have autonomy over his or her own body is a basic human right that every person is entitled to. However, for millions of women throughout the world this right is violated by U.S. foreign policy. U.S. foreign policy prohibits the use of United States Agency for International Development (USAID) funds to be used for abortion outside of the United States regardless of the circumstances. This penalizing policy is known as the Helms Amendment and was set in place in 1973. The Helms Amendment states “No foreign assistance funds may be used to pay for the performance of abortion as a method of family planning or to motivate or coerce any person to practice abortions” . This policy affects those who are most vulnerable – victims of war. …show more content…
This study also strived to understand why this policy has not been changed when there is a pro-choice President who has stated that he is committed to reproductive rights . And most importantly this study aims to offer suggestions on how the pro-choice movement in the United States could change policy that would help women in areas of conflict get the care that they need. In order to fully understand why this issue exists I did extensive research on both domestic and foreign policies that have been passed by the U.S. Government to restrict access to abortion. I also felt it was necessary to include who these policies affect and show the results of denying abortion to those who are victims of war. I then conducted an informal survey among my friends and family to understand how aware they were of these policies that criminalized abortion. I then moved on to analyzing respectable pro-choice organizations and seeing how often they spoke of the Helms Amendment. Finally I analyzed how lawmakers in the United States view abortion and how these views affect U.S. foreign policy