Women raped and impregnated by terrorist captors are being denied overseas help to get abortions because of federal red tape in the US government.

The Helms Amendment prevents foreign aid money to fund abortion overseas unless a woman’s life is in danger. 

ISIS has been raping women as young as 12 years of age. Boko Haram kidnapped and raped and impregnated 200 girls. These girls are being forced to give birth, further putting their lives and health at risk.

President Obama can remove the red tape. Religious leaders are calling on the US government to help women and girls get the post-rape care they need. The US government's 42 year-old law should not stand in the way. 

Worldwide, about 47,000 women die from unsafe abortion every year, and thousands more women suffer from life-threatening injuries due to unsafe abortion procedures. As countries around the world are reforming their abortion laws in recognition of this major contributor to maternal mortality and morbidity, they are handcuffed in developing modern service provision by the prohibition on U.S. assistance for safe abortion. Poor women are disproportionately affected by this policy, as they often lack the resources to obtain a safe abortion.

Incidents like these are not isolated. Rape during war was widespread and rampant during the siege in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1993 and the Rwanda genocide in 1994. I was in the Balkans during the siege and saw firsthand what happens to a woman or girl who is brutally raped and who can then not see is a doctor. What is happening today is not isolated. Rape during war is a global pandemic.

We cannot add to the suffering of these women and girls. They need our help.

Please ask President Obama to change the outdated Helms Amendment