Editing Out Reproductive Rights

The Trump administration is eroding reproductive rights both at home and abroad, writes Stephanie Schmid, a US diplomat focused on international human rights.

In April, the State Department cut the reproductive rights section from its Country Reports on Human Rights Practices. The omission leaves out key reporting on deprivations from unsafe abortions to denial of family planning information to violence against women. This information is key to holding bad actors accountable, informing foreign policy and assessing asylum-seekers’ claims—erasing it allows “abuses to occur unchecked and unreported, emboldening the violators,” Schmid writes.

Foreign Policy (Commentary)