The Dutch government has taken steps to establish an international abortion fund, following news this week that U.S. President Donald Trump has decided to reinstate the global gag rule, a policy that denies aid to organizations around the world that not only offer abortion services to women, but even mention abortion as a reproductive health care option.
Lilianne Ploumen, Dutch minister for foreign trade and development cooperation, announced that she intends to create a fund that will award aid to initiatives that promote and give women in developing countries access to birth control, abortion, and education, according to the Independent. She said that she developed the idea for the fund in direct opposition to the executive order that Trump issued this week that will affect hundreds of thousands of women and families around the world. Ploumen cited statistics that estimate up to 14 women could die each day as a result of the newly reinstated gag rule.
"First of all, for all those women who have to [be able to] make, if they want to have a child, a choice, but also for their husbands and children and society as a whole," she said. "Banning abortion does not lead to fewer abortions. It leads to more irresponsible practices in back rooms and more maternal deaths."
