Day 1321: Aborting the abortion of abortion education

In January 2017 I read that Trump's administration were passing a Regan era rule that every Republican government has passed upon coming into office. The Mexico City policy, or the global gag rule, means that any charity awarded funding from the United States can't even so much as mouth the word "abortion" when engaging in overseas family planning without losing all of said funding.

Without delving into all the reasons why properly funded and carefully offered advice about abortions saves thousands of impoverished and uneducated women around the world every year, I'm just going to say that of all the myriad shitty things I read about the world while trying to avoid reading anything at all, I was particularly depressed about this one. How can I, a single individual, possibly try to counteract the sweeping loss of funding caused by this rule? Why did I care so much? Well, because I value and am thankful for all the freedoms I experience as a Swedish citizen and I wish that all the women who experience seven tonnes of shit in their lives every day could have even just a fraction of the freedoms I enjoy.

I almost went off into my dark place to brood about the untold evils of this world, until I read that the Netherlands would work to actively combat the loss of funding caused by the withdrawal of American aid to family planning clinics. And then, Lo and Behold, Sweden also got involved. As did Denmark and Belgium. It is undoubtedly a delicious feeling when you meet a fellow person who shares your views, but to know that whole countries with large numbers of people felt the same as I did upon reading of the reinstatement of the gag rule and WANTED TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT is pretty fucking sweet. Some people alone can't make America sized money grants, but some countries together can make much more of a difference.

The Swedish national society for sexual education (yes - it's a thing!) sent out public information about the change in US policy and gave instructions on how to donate. Even though I'm not a big fan of charity (since really philanthropy is just rich assholes being benevolent with their hoards to causes they believe in) this particular charitable donation, if used to help women learn about and have access to safe abortion, sends a very clear "fuck you" to the rich asshole who doesn't want money spent on such things. And that is one "fuck you" message I am happy to spend my money on.