President Trump’s War on Women Begins
Should we journalists use the word “lie” to describe President Trump’s most manifest falsehoods?
That debate has roiled the news world. The Times this week used the word “lie” in a front-page headline,
and I agreed with that decision, but there’s a counterargument that
lying requires an intention to deceive — and that Trump may actually
believe his absurd falsehoods.
So
in 2017 we reach a mortifying moment for a great democracy: We must
decide whether our 45th president is a liar or a crackpot.
Yet
the costliest presidential falsehoods and delusions are not the ones
that people are talking about, such as those concerning the inauguration
crowd or electoral fraud. The most horrific chicanery involves Trump’s
new actions on women’s health that will cause deaths around the globe.
It followed the weekend’s stunning women’s marches: At least 3.2 million people
apparently participated in all 50 states, amounting to 1 percent of the
U.S. population. In a slap at all who marched, Trump this week signed
an order that will cut off access to contraception to vast numbers of
women, particularly in Africa.
It
will also curb access to cancer screenings and maybe even undermine
vaccination campaigns and efforts against H.I.V. and the Zika virus. The
upshot: Thousands of impoverished, vulnerable women will die.
Americans
have focused on the executive actions about building a wall, or
expediting oil pipelines, but nothing is more devastating than the edict
on women’s health (signed in front of a group composed almost entirely
of smiling men in suits).
In
fairness, Trump probably thought he was doing a good thing; that’s a
measure of his delusion. He reinstated what’s called the Mexico City
policy, which stipulates that family planning funds cannot go to foreign
aid groups that ever discuss abortion. (Federal funds already don’t go
for abortions.)
Presumably
Trump thought this policy would reduce abortions, and was thus
“pro-life.” In fact, this is a “pro-death” approach that actually
increases abortions, as well as deaths among women.
How
can that be? Many groups, like Marie Stopes International and Planned
Parenthood International, lose funding in poor countries from this
policy. In 2001, when President George W. Bush imposed a more limited
version, 16 developing countries lost shipments of contraceptives from the U.S.
Stanford University researchers found that the Bush version of the policy reduced contraceptive use in Africa — and increased abortion rates.
This
all sounds wonkish and antiseptic, but in poor countries, the most
dangerous thing a woman can do is become pregnant. I’ve seen too many
women dying or suffering in filth on stained cots in remote villages
because of childbirth.
I
wish Trump could see them: a mother of three in Cameroon dying after
her birth attendant sat on her stomach to hasten delivery; a woman in
Niger collapsing from a common complication called eclampsia; a
15-year-old girl in Chad whose family dealt with her labor complications
by taking her to a healer who diagnosed sorcery and burned her arm as
she lay in a coma.
With
this new order, Trump will inadvertently cause more of these horrific
scenes. Maybe “war on women” sounds hyperbolic, but not if gasping,
dying women are seared in your memory.
Worse,
Trump expanded this “global gag rule” — as critics call it, because it
bars groups from mentioning abortion — so that it apparently will cover
all kinds of health services, including efforts to tackle polio or Zika
or H.I.V., even programs to help women who have been trafficked into
brothels. (The White House didn’t respond to my inquiries.)
I hope all of the marchers call the White House, 202-456-1111, or their members of Congress, 202-224-3121, to protest.
Marie
Stopes alone estimated that if it cannot find replacement funding, the
new policy will result in 6.5 million unintentional pregnancies, 2.2
million abortions and 21,700 women dying in pregnancy or childbirth.
The
victims invariably are among the most voiceless, powerless people in
the world. When Bush imposed his version of the policy, it meant that no
contraceptives reached a village in northern Ghana. As a result, a
young woman named Kolgu Inusah became pregnant.
She
tried to abort the pregnancy herself using herbs, but something went
wrong and she suffered terrible abdominal pains. She was rushed to a
clinic, but doctors couldn’t save her. Her two children now have no mom.
President
Trump, you may think you are “pro-life” and preventing abortions, but
that’s a lie or a delusion. In fact, you are increasing the number of
abortions and of dying women.
And
to those women and men who marched last weekend, remember that this
isn’t about symbols, speeches or pussy hats. It’s about the lives of
women and girls.
Please, please, keep on marching, keep on calling.
No comments