25 signatures reached
To: Members of the U.S. Senate
Tell the Senate: #RepealHelms
The Helms Amendment is a nearly 50-year-old reminder of the disastrous way U.S. foreign policy can negatively impact the lives of everyday people across the globe. Every year since its passage in 1973, this policy has directly harmed the health and well-being of pregnant people in the Global South by creating incredible barriers to vital, lifesaving reproductive health care worldwide.
I urge you to repeal this harmful policy and support funding for comprehensive reproductive health care.
Why is this important?
Texas recently enacted the most restrictive anti-abortion law in the country, outlawing all abortions after 6 weeks with no exceptions. Mississippi is taking their own anti-abortion law to the Supreme Court — a case that could overturn Roe v. Wade and put dozens of new anti-reproductive healthcare laws on the map.
And while it may not surprise you that racism and misogyny have run rampant within the United States for decades, you might not realize we’ve been exporting it too.
For nearly 50 years, the Helms Amendment has blocked people around the world from having control over their own reproductive healthcare. It’s the worst of a paternalistic U.S. foreign policy at work: spreading harmful ideology under the guise of humanitarian assistance.
But that could change soon. For the first time since 1973, the House passed an appropriations bill that DOESN’T include the Helms Amendment. And IF it passes the Senate, we can make 2021 the year we finally wipe this outdated, imperialist policy from our books and build a world where people can create their families — and build their futures — in the ways that work for them.
Add your name to tell the Senate: It’s time to #RepealHelms