Washington—Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) today released the following statement in opposition to President Trump’s executive order to reinstate a policy that forbids international aid organizations that receive federal funds from discussing the full range of reproductive health care services with their patients or using private funds to provide abortion care: 

“The Trump administration’s decision to reinstate this backwards policy is shameful. Access to birth control and abortion care is severely restricted around the world. Women facing unplanned pregnancies are often desperate and forced to obtain care in harrowing circumstances, reminiscent of back-alley procedures American women often resorted to before Roe v. Wade.  

“It’s estimated that 97 percent of abortions in Africa and 95 percent of abortions in Latin America are either performed by someone who is not trained or in an unsanitary environment. The World Health Organization attributes 13 percent of maternal deaths to unsafe abortion.

“The Trump administration’s decision to forbid international aid organizations from even discussing the full range of reproductive health care services with women around the world means that fewer women will have access to safe care and more will die.”