Urge your Senators to help end the Global Gag Rule by cosponsoring the Global Democracy Promotion Act, S.1744 and H.R.619.

This Act needs an instant boost of cosponsors to move forward. Insiders believe the push for cosponsors must occur now before the August recess begins next week.

Since 2001, women in developing countries have been living under the Global Gag Rule, a policy enacted by President Bush that bars family planning programs receiving US international aid from using their own monies from separate sources for abortion counseling, advocacy, and referrals.

The World Health Organization reports that over 80,000 women and girls die from unsafe, illegal abortions every year, and experts place that number at as many as 200,000. The Global Gag Rule disproportionately affects young women in developing countries. We must end this policy that is causing deaths among the poorest women in the world.

Urge your Senators to help end the Global Gag Rule.

The Global Democracy Promotion Act would remove the strings attached to family planning aid that impose restrictions on free speech - restrictions that would be illegal if applied in the United States. This Act was introduced by Senators Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and Olympia Snowe (R-ME) and by Rep. Nita Lowey (D-NY) and Rep. Christopher Shays (R-CT),

Email your Senators today and ask them to co-sponsor the Global Democracy Promotion Act and stand up for women worldwide.

Past "Activism Spotlight" Columns:

• Urge your Representative to Vote for the Afghan Freedom and Security Act of 2007

  
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  The Feminist Majority Foundation (FMF), which was founded in 1987, is a cutting edge organization dedicated to women's equality, reproductive health, and non-violence. In all spheres, FMF utilizes research and action to empower women economically, socially, and politically. Our organization believes that feminists - both women and men, girls and boys - are the majority, but this majority must be empowered.