Last month, WRJ Executive Director Rabbi Marla J. Feldman and RAC Deputy Director Rachel Laser signed onto a letter urging President Obama to reinterpret the Helms Amendment, which bans American foreign aid for abortion services in all circumstances. Alongside a number of other faith leaders, these Reform Movement leaders called on President Obama to instruct the State Department and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to interpret the Helms Amendment to allow American foreign aid to be used for abortion services in cases of rape, incest or life endangerment of the mother. The letter reads, in part: “When a pregnancy is a result of rape or incest, or when a pregnancy is a threat to the life of a woman, safe abortion can and should be made available and accessible, and U.S. foreign assistance should support such access. Unfortunately, the Helms amendment does just the opposite: it denies millions of women and girls access to safe abortion services. While ultimately we seek elimination of this law, at a minimum the executive branch of the U.S. government should clarify existing law so that in the cases of rape, incest and life endangerment, U.S. foreign assistance is allowed to support abortion access.”
Rachel Laser further explained that, “abortions in the case of rape, incest and where the woman's life is in danger are not for the purpose of 'family planning.' It is also worth noting that every Republican president who enacted the Mexico City policy made exception to the restrictions in cases of rape, incest, and if the woman's life is in danger. In directing the State Department and USAID to interpret the Helms Amendment, the President would be acting well within the limits of the law. If the Helms Amendment was intended to be a total ban on abortion funding, Congress would have written the language that way, as it has done before.”
The Center for Health and Gender Equity and the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, the organizers of the letter organized an ad in Politico (page 5), running today.
The Reform Movement has long been an advocate for reproductive rights, both at home and abroad, and welcomes opportunities to engage with leaders in the Administration and in Congress to provide safe, legal abortion for women who choose to access those services. While we advocate for reinterpretation of the Helms Amendment for women around the world, we also are active in ensuring that these rights are not limited at home. You can take action here to urge your Members of Congress to oppose a federal ban on abortions after 20 weeks of gestation. This bill will prohibit abortions after 20 weeks of gestation, with very few exceptions for life of the mother and rape or incest when reported to legal authorities. The bill severely limits a woman’s autonomy over her own body, and refuses her the ability to make decisions according to her own beliefs and conscience.