Rape during warfare is routinely used to terrorize women and girls around the world. When victims fall pregnant—which, despite Todd Akin’s insistence that rape doesn’t result in pregnancy, it does—they deserve and are entitled to comprehensive healthcare, including abortion.

However, because the Obama administration has failed to reinterpret the Helms Amendment, which denies foreign assistance funds to pay for abortions, these brutalized victims can’t access the services they need.

Not only is this morally repugnant, but, as the Global Justice Center astutely points out, it is a violation of international human rights law. The Helms Amendment denies wartime rape victims their right to complete medical care under the Geneva Conventions.

This is unacceptable. Please join us in signing the Global Justice Center’s petition calling on President Obama to issue an executive order lifting the ban. It only takes a moment to sign and share.

Categories: Action

Tags: Abortion, Geneva Conventions, Global Justice Center, Helms Amendment, Human rights, Obama, Rape, war, wartime rape