3 questions to Leah Hoctor, Vice President for Europe, Center for Reproductive Rights

3 questions to Leah Hoctor, Vice President for Europe, Center for Reproductive Rights

Focus 2030  : The new U.S. administration has reinstated the Global Gag Rule and dismantled USAID. From a legal and human rights perspective, what are the consequences of these measures for women’s and girls’ rights worldwide ? How do such policies affect governments and civil society’s ability to uphold international commitments on sexual and reproductive health and rights ?

Leah Hoctor : The reinstatement of the “Protecting Life in Global Health Assistance” policy – widely known as the “Global Gag Rule” – in January 2025, and the dismantling of USAID’s global health programs which culminated in July 2025, have already had devastating impacts on the rights, health and lives of women and girls, in all their diversity, around the world. In the months and years to come they will continue to threaten the lives and wellbeing of millions of women and girls.

The Global Gag Rule affects a wide range of global health assistance provided by the U.S. government, impacting funds for contraception, safe motherhood, treatment of HIV/AIDS, Zika, Ebola and other infectious diseases.

The rule clearly undermines myriad human rights, by reducing access to comprehensive and essential sexual and reproductive health services and information, and by preventing advocacy for reproductive rights and legal reforms. It has a chilling effect on access to other sexual and reproductive health services and proliferates misinformation and heightens stigma related to sexual and reproductive health care.

Evidence shows that the Global Gag Rule has long-lasting, sometimes irreversible, impacts. Studies outline that the policy has caused spikes in maternal mortality and morbidity and unintended pregnancies as well as increased gender inequalities worldwide.

This harm will be further exacerbated by the unprecedented dismantling of USAID.

As the single largest donor to global health, the US administration’s decision to end this vital support is having far reaching and devastating consequences for women and girls’ health and lives and threatens to undermine decades of progress to guarantee the human rights and SRHR of women and girls globally.

These moves directly contravene US international commitments and further jeopardise the realization of the Sustainable Development Goals – particularly SDGs 3 and 5.

It is vital that the international community and other governments step up to voice strong political support for women and girls’ rights and take action to strengthen sexual and reproductive health and rights protections, while doing everything they can to minimize the dramatic impact of the US administration’s restrictive policies.

Focus 2030  :In the face of shrinking civic space and restrictive policies, what legal and advocacy strategies does the Center see as most effective to defend and advance reproductive rights globally ? How can international and local actors work together to strengthen accountability and protect progress already made ?

Leah Hoctor :  Our work is dedicated to strengthening legal and policy protections for sexual and reproductive health and rights in countries around the world and at the multilateral level. We know that successful strategies that drive transformative change in diverse contexts necessarily involve extensive civil society collaboration and partnership, robust public and political engagement and sustained efforts to raise awareness and mobilize stakeholders.

We are seriously concerned about growing threats to democratic principles and shrinking civic space in a number of countries and the impact this is has on human rights, not least sexual and reproductive rights. In this context, we are working to ensure that human rights defenders and civil society organizations working to advance sexual and reproductive health and rights are supported and protected in their vital efforts.

In our experience close collaboration across national and international actors is a critical component of impactful legal and advocacy strategies to drive legal and policy change on sexual and reproductive health and rights. At this time it is important to deepen and expand this collaboration and build robust alliances across civil society movements and with decision makers, so as to protect gains made and bolster and support civil society especially in contexts where the rule of law and sexual and reproductive rights are under threat.

Working together we can protect gender equality and sexual and reproductive health and rights against backsliding and ensure accountability.

Focus 2030  : As the Fourth Ministerial Conference on Feminist Foreign Policy approaches, what concrete commitments would you like to see from governments to reinforce SRHR as part of feminist foreign policy agendas ? How can such a platform help coordinate a stronger, rights-based response to global rollbacks like the Global Gag Rule ?

Leah Hoctor : It is urgent that governments commit and recommit to advancing gender equality and feminist principles as core foreign policy priorities. Governments must move beyond rhetoric and make concrete, actionable commitments to embed sexual and reproductive health and rights at the center of their feminist foreign policy agendas. Governments that have not yet done so should embrace and adopt robust feminist foreign policies that clearly prioritize sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR). Key commitments include :

• Integration of SRHR in all foreign policy areas : Governments must ensure that SRHR are not siloed but are explicitly integrated into all aspects of foreign policy, including financing, trade, diplomacy, defense, and humanitarian responses. Governments should explicitly recognize SRHR as a non-negotiable priority of their foreign policies and should demonstrate leadership in promoting global compliance with, and implementation of, international human rights obligations and commitments.
• Championing progress domestically : Governments must look to their own internal context and commit to simultaneously take action to advance SRHR domestically for all. Ensuring coherence in leadership on SRHR across both domestic and foreign policy agendas can be transformative.
• Centering civil society and marginalized voices in policy-making : Governments should commit to ensuring the meaningful participation of local civil society, women’s rights and SRHR organizations and marginalized communities in foreign policy development, implementation and assessment and must integrate truly inclusive and intersectional approaches in pursuing feminist foreign policies.
• Effective responses to global rollbacks : Governments should commit to ensuring a robust, coordinated, unified and rights-based response to global rollbacks and threats on SRHR.
• Increased and sustained funding for SRHR : Governments should prioritize financial support for SRHR and civil society efforts to advance these rights and funding should be flexible, long-term, and directed to local CSOs.
• Ensuring accountability : Governments should ensure that feminist foreign policies are accompanied by a comprehensive framework of specific, measurable, and time-bound indicators and results to ensure meaningful progress in delivering on commitments.

The Conference is taking place at a pivotal moment where the world needs global leaders to champion feminist principles and public policies that can transform unequal power relations and ensure equal rights for all. This inevitably requires robust commitments to defend and promote SRHR. It is time for governments to speak clearly and strongly for SRHR and to take concrete action so that those words become reality.

NB : The opinions expressed in this interview do not necessarily reflect the ideas of Focus 2030.