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Dear Collegian,
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This year’s theme for the International Women’s Day was, “Press for Progress,” an aptly named campaign in a time where women are pushing harder than ever before for equality.
In the last year, we’ve seen movements such as the Women’s March, #MeToo, and #TimesUp gain enormous ground, and we need to carry this momentum over into other areas in the fight for equality not just on a domestic level, but on a global scale.
We need to stand by and stand up for our sisters all over the world, and a key way that we can do that is by fighting the Global Gag Rule, which harms women all over the world by rescinding U.S. Global Health Assistance Funding from any NGO or clinic abroad that so much as mentions the word abortion. This is creating a healthcare crisis not only because it denies patients comprehensive reproductive healthcare, but because these clinics—often the only affordable healthcare these women and their families have access to—cannot afford to stay open without these funds.
I work as a student organizer at Colorado State University for Population Connection Action Fund’s #Fight4HER Campaign because these women deserve better than this harmful policy. Our campaign began after Trump reinstated the Global Gag Rule in January 2017, and we have spent the last year advocating for the Global HER (Health, Empowerment, and Rights) Act.
The Global HER Act will provide an effective repeal of the Global Gag Rule, empowering women to make their own healthcare decisions. It will give women the tools they need to be able to do so.
If we truly want to give International Women’s Day meaning and continue to Press for Progress, we must act. Progress cannot be made without action, and we cannot declare victory until we have collectively secured equality for women in every single corner of the world. That is why I am calling on everyone to do their part following International Women’s Day by standing up for women all over the globe and contacting your representatives to ask that they co-sponsor the Global HER Act. The time to act is now!
Elizabeth Hart
CSU #Fight4HER Campus Coordinator
4th year Biological Sciences student
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