U.S. global health aid policy and family planning in sub-Saharan Africa

Nina Brooks, Matt Gunther, Eran Bendavid, Elizabeth H. Boyle, Kathryn Grace, Grant Miller

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

The Trump administration reinstated and expanded the Mexico City Policy (MCP) in 2017 as the Protecting Life in Global Health Assistance (PLGHA) policy, forbidding international organizations receiving all U.S. health assistance from promoting abortion. Existing evidence suggests that abortion rates rise under the MCP, but the direct effect of U.S. funding restrictions on supply and use of family planning has received less attention. By studying PLGHA's impact on health service delivery providers and women in eight sub-Saharan African countries, we are able to fill this gap. We find that health facilities provide fewer family planning services, including emergency contraception, and that women are less likely to use contraception and more likely to have given birth recently under the policy. These findings suggest that PLGHA has important unintended consequences that are detrimental to reproductive health and the autonomous decision-making of health service providers and women.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article numbereadk2684
JournalScience Advances
Volume9
Issue number49
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 2023

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© 2023 American Association for the Advancement of Science. All rights reserved.

PubMed: MeSH publication types

  • Journal Article

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