Sexual violence has been used as a means of oppression, control and retribution against women in custody for thousands of years, especially on the international stage. This kind of violence is not unheard of today; it continues to be a prevalent force. Terrorist groups such as Boko Haram and ISIL continue to use this kind of sexual violence against women to strike fear into the hearts of people everywhere. Hundreds of women and school-aged girls are abducted by these groups and used as sex slaves, and, if that isn’t a horrifying fate in itself, get this: These women and school-aged girls are often forced to carry their pregnancies to term. It’s either that or they subject themselves to life-threatening, “back-alley” abortions. And U.S. law forbids us from doing anything to help them.
The Helms Amendment is one law that few have heard of as it was passed over 40 years ago in 1973, right after Roe v. Wade — but countless women feel the effects of it today. The Helms Amendment prohibits any U.S.-funded organization from providing safe abortions for women and girls abroad — even in places where abortion is legal. In some situations, the language of the amendment is interpreted so strictly that medical practitioners are prohibited from even the discussion of abortion as a method of family planning. These practitioners are often forced to stand by idly while women and girls subject themselves to dangerous, last-resort, do-it-yourself abortions.
In practice, the Helms Amendment has been used to deny victims of rape and incest access to safe abortion care, even if the woman’s life is at risk. In April 2015, for example, 500 girls were rescued from a Boko Haram extremist stronghold and over 200 of them were visibly pregnant. Not only will these girls have to suffer psychologically from their capture, rape and torture, they will also have to live with a constant reminder of their trauma for the rest of their lives as well as the medical implications of having a baby at such a young age. In a New York Times interview, a young Nigerian survivor by the name of Yanna described the horrors of being kept as a slave with 50 other women and girls. Yanna was raped so often by Boko Haram fighters that she became so psychologically affected that she is unable to recall her age. As injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere and we, as U.S. Citizens, have a moral obligation to provide aid to innocent girls like Yanna.
It is morally imperative for Congress to repeal the Helms Amendment, as political games and ideologies have no place in medical clinics overseas. Aside from the fact that the Helms Amendment enforces painful consequences for victims of rape and incest, it also permits an average of 47,000 backdoor abortion-related deaths per year — lives we should feel responsible for until Helms is repealed. Oftentimes in developing nations, U.S.-funded medical centers are the only option these women and girls have, and we should be supporting these women and girls, not sending them to their deaths.
I implore everyone to vote for their representatives with the Helms Amendment and the deplorable consequences it entails in mind. As it stands, Sen. Richard Burr does not work to represent women and girls domestically or abroad. Not only has Burr defunded education regarding sexual health and contraceptives domestically, he also promises to restrict and even ban U.N. funding for family planning policies and practices abroad. But we can clearly see that banning federal funding of family planning resources overseas does nothing but empower terrorists to continue their war against women and girls. Citizens and politicians alike have a moral obligation to fight injustice everywhere, and I encourage all those reading this to vote with morality and justice in mind.
