NAIROBI, Kenya — Nairobi’s sprawling Kibera slum is far from America but not from America’s battle over abortion.
Aid workers and experts say President Barack Obama’s decision to allow aid money to flow again to international groups that offer abortion counseling will help restart programs desperately needed in Africa, the continent hardest hit by a so-called “gag rule.”
Dr. Walter Odhiambo, the country director for Marie Stopes Kenya, said his family-planning organization had been limping along on European aid because of the U.S. rule Obama overturned Jan. 23 in one of his first presidential acts.
“Family planning was not given the prominence it needs,” Odhiambo said.
The policy banned U.S. government money from going to international family-planning groups that either offer abortions or provide information, counseling or referrals about abortion. Its critics call it the “global gag rule” because it prohibits funding for groups that lobby to legalize abortion or promote it as a family-planning method. That can affect a range of services provided by private groups on a continent where governments meet few health needs.
“The biggest impact has been in sub-Saharan Africa,” said Wendy Turnbull, a researcher for Washington-based Population Action International, which lobbies on family-planning issues and applauded Obama’s move.
Turnbull applauded the Bush administration for spending millions to fight AIDS and other health threats in Africa but said the gag rule undermined that effort.
A study by the Washington-based Center for Reproductive Rights said the policy hit hardest in Africa, the fastest-growing and poorest continent. Latin Americans and Asians were more likely to accept the ban and keep funding, either because they embraced its intent or relied more on U.S. money, the study concluded.
Clinics serving more than 1.5 million women closed in Kenya, homeland of Obama’s father, said Marie Stopes Kenya and Family Health Options Kenya. Contraceptive availability in Zambia was reduced.
Even without the U.S. policy, abortions would be controversial here. They are illegal in almost all African countries, many of which have conservative Christian or Muslim populations.
