End US Discrimination Against Girls & Women Raped in Armed Conflict

Every day, girls and women impregnated through rape in armed conflict are forced to bear the children of their rapists, largely due to a US policy that places anti-abortion restrictions on humanitarian aid, in violation of international law. The victims of these vicious attacks are denied access to a safe abortion, even in life-threatening situations. Studies have shown that the physical consequences of rape for girls and women who become pregnant from rape in armed conflict are aggravated, as there is a direct link between armed conflict and increased rates of maternal mortality. Yet these victims are forced to risk carrying their unwanted pregnancies to full-term, to seek dangerous methods of abortion or, in many tragic cases, to take their own lives.

One thing is clear: we must take action now.

The Global Justice Center needs your support for our August 12th Campaign challenging this crucial, but often ignored issue related to violence against women. Named for the anniversary of the Geneva Conventions, our August 12th Campaign challenges the abortion prohibitions placed on US foreign aid as violating the rights of girls and women raped and impregnated in armed conflict under the Geneva Conventions. Our goal is to ensure that donor states include access to safe abortion services as part of their humanitarian aid, and to have President Obama issue an executive order lifting the abortion restrictions on US humanitarian aid to war rape victims.

This routine denial of safe abortions for girls and women raped in armed conflict violates international humanitarian law (IHL). Girls and women raped in situations of armed conflict are considered the “wounded and sick” with inalienable rights to non-discriminatory medical care under the Geneva Conventions and its Additional Protocols. To further protect these rights, IHL requires that doctors treating war victims and following the rules of medical ethics are immune from prosecution under domestic laws, including laws prohibiting abortion.

This denial also leads to the further victimization and inhumane treatment of these already brutalized victims of war. While boys and men who are “wounded and sick” in armed conflict – whether as victims of war rape or another weapon – are theoretically provided rehabilitative medical care in humanitarian medical settings designed to restore them to the highest level of physical and mental health, girls and women impregnated through war rape are forced to bear the child of their rapist, even in life-threatening circumstances. However they, too, must receive the same rehabilitative care as the “wounded and sick” with the same goal of restoring them to the highest level of physical and mental health.

While a few courageous doctors and agencies provide abortion services episodically, this provision is a discretionary humanitarian act, not recognition of a woman’s non-derogable legal right. The major providers of medical humanitarian services routinely exclude the option of abortion to girls and women raped in armed conflict. This omission of abortion from the medical services to rape victims is largely due to the blanket abortion restrictions the US places on all its foreign assistance, including humanitarian aid on organizations such as the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

Thanks to the GJC’s August 12th Campaign, there is growing support for President Obama to issue an executive order lifting these restrictions. We are joined by Norway, the European Parliament, UK Parliament members, the New York Times editorial board and over 3,500 groups. We need YOUR help. Please add your voice to our petition calling for an end to this inhumane policy and save women’s lives.