The 'Dobbs' Decision on Abortion Is Hurting People the World Over | Opinion

Two years ago, the Supreme Court's devastating Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization decision overturned Roe v. Wade and rolled back reproductive rights for millions of people across the United States.

Anti-abortion rights activists in other countries were paying attention. The harmful impact of Dobbs isn't just national—it's global.

In Nigeria, Dobbs was used to argue against the Safe Termination of Pregnancy for Legal Indications Guidelines in Lagos State. In Kenya, activists cited the decision to undermine a law affirming abortion as a fundamental human right under the Kenyan constitution. In Uganda, a court cited the Dobbs decision in a ruling that upheld a law effectively criminalizing LGBTQ+ life.

At the same time, this year, France moved to safeguard abortion rights in their constitution, motivated by the warning sign Dobbs has sent.

This is not the example the United States has historically set.

For nearly 50 years, the U.S. inspired the expansion of sexual and reproductive rights around the world. In the first three decades after Roe v. Wade, more than 56 countries joined America in expanding access to reproductive health care. Then, in 1994, the U.S. played a pivotal role at the International Conference on Population and Development, which brought together 179 governments to support sexual and reproductive health and rights as fundamental to sustainable development.

Thanks to international cooperation and U.S. leadership on investments in international family planning programs and organizations like UNFPA (the UN sexual and reproductive health agency), maternal mortality has decreased by 34 percent globally, access to modern contraception has increased by 25 percent, and the number of deaths due to unsafe abortions has declined significantly.

Since Dobbs, the Biden-Harris Administration has made clear its steadfast commitment to advancing and protecting sexual and reproductive health and rights around the world. Dobbs did not reduce U.S. investments in international family planning and reproductive health, nor the U.S. contribution to UNFPA. And thanks to the administration's swift action on week one to repeal the global gag rule against discussing abortion as part of reproductive planning—which Republican administrations have historically implemented—the U.S. is not preventing recipients of global health assistance from providing, counseling, referring, or advocating for legal abortion services in their own country with their own money.

Yet, additional, consistent, and clear communication to embassies, governments, and partners around the world is needed as our opponents traffic in mis- and disinformation.

Unfortunately, Republicans in Congress are, for the second year in a row, trying to codify an expanded version of the global gag rule into law through must-pass government funding bills. This is part of a decades-long anti-choice movement led by Republicans, who evidently seek to control access to abortion and health information not only in the United States but in other countries.

As leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives Pro-Choice Caucus, we are deeply disturbed to see these threats to the progress of the last 50 years. We are especially concerned to see the power of America's example being used to reverse it.

U.S. officials and supporters of sexual and reproductive health and rights must stand united to reject all attacks on bodily autonomy and reproductive freedom. We must oppose cynical attempts to reverse the life-saving progress of the last 50 years, which has promoted economic and social opportunity for millions of people. And we must recommit to working towards a world where all people have access to the care they need to control their own bodies, lives, and futures.

Rep. Grace Meng represents New York's Sixth Congressional District, which encompasses parts of Queens and serves as a member of the Congressional Pro-Choice Caucus.

Rep. Diana DeGette represents Colorado's First Congressional District and is co-chair of the Congressional Pro-Choice Caucus.

Rep. Barbara Lee represents California's 12th Congressional district and serves as co-chair of the Congressional Pro-Choice Caucus.

The views expressed in this article are the writers' own.