Exporting Culture Wars

Abstract

Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) provide a broad range of health services in developing countries and they are more flexible than government health care clinics. NGOs are partially funded through donations, which helps keep the services affordable. However, the United States has instituted a “gag rule” to prohibit funding NGOs that advocate for, or counsel about, abortion services, even if such activities receive funds from sources other than the U.S.

This article points to specific instances where the gag rule can be seen to cause harm to the people in Third World countries caught in the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Further, it makes three arguments. First, it argues that the enactment of the global gag rule was and is a concerted effort to export the U.S. culture around the world. Second, it argues that the moral absolutism of the global gag rule overlaps with the criminalization of abortion and the patriarchal customary and religious norms and practices in sub-Saharan African countries, not only to undermine access to safe and affordable reproductive health care services, but also to consolidate and legitimize gender inequality. Last, it argues that the gag rule is proof of the unlimited powers of the President in the exercise of foreign affairs.

The article then provides remedies for providing affordable health care without exporting the culture wars.