Hillary Speaks Out on the US Law That Denies Rape Victims Abortions Abroad

Last Sunday in Iowa, Hillary Clinton became the first presidential candidate to take on the Helms Amendment, the controversial law that bars US foreign aid from supporting abortion as a "method of family planning." In practice, it has been interpreted as a ban on providing safe abortion services for women overseas, including in cases of rape, incest, or life-threatening pregnancy.

According to CNN, while the Democratic front-runner was speaking at a town hall in Iowa, an audience member asked Clinton to clarify her position on the Helms Amendment "as it relates to public funding for abortion."

"I do think we have to take a look at this for conflict zones," Clinton replied. "And if the United States government, because of very strong feelings against [public funding for abortion], maintains our prohibition, then we are going to have to work through non-profit groups and work with other countries to…provide the support and medical care that a lot of these women need."

Reproductive health organizations welcomed Clinton's comments. "I think it's important that candidates have to talk about this," said Brian Dixon, the senior vice president for media and government relations at the Population Connection Action Fund. "Her answer was mostly positive. She understands the need for safe abortion and probably needs a little bit more pressure to make a commitment to fix this problem if she's elected."

At present, Clinton remains the only presidential candidate to explicitly address the Helms Amendment. In October, Senator Bernie Sanders signed a letter that urged President Obama to correct the "overly constrained implementation" of the law and allow international government agencies to "support safe abortion services in at least the limited circumstances of rape, incest, or life endangerment."

Dixon cautioned that this should not be taken as a "commitment to act if he's elected," adding that "a few of the [Republican] candidates have said in general that they accept exceptions to abortion bans in the case of rape or incest, but have not spoken specifically on Helms."

"First of all, the law needs to be repealed altogether," Dixon said. "It's bad law; it's based on American domestic abortion politics that have no relevance to the lives of most people around the world. It doesn't make any logical sense that the law exists in the first place. It was never about good foreign policy or good global health policy."

Reproductive health organizations believe that the Helms Amendment has been misinterpreted since its enactment in 1973. As it stands now, overseas humanitarian groups that use federal funding have to turn away women seeking abortion, even if the women are victims of wartime rape.

"We're already providing money for help and assistance to these vulnerable women," Dixon explained. "We're funding health programs in [countries like] Nigeria already; we're just not allowed to give them this health service. It's not like we're creating a new international abortion fund—it's about allowing the money we're already providing to give them the services they need, instead of turning them away."

Despite the outrage over terrorist groups like ISIS and Boko Haram using rape as a weapon of war, Obama has stayed firm on the policy. In September, a US delegation at the UN Human Rights Council rejected a challenge to the Helms Amendment issued by France, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Norway, Belgium, and the UK.

"President Obama has failed to be moved by the repeated calls of champions in Congress and civil society organizations to protect the rights and health of women overseas, despite reports of the increasing use of rape as a weapon of war," said Jonathan Rucks, the director of advocacy at PAI. "While the prospect of President Obama allowing the clock to run out on this issue during his time in office is difficult to understand, we will not give up. We will push the 2016 candidates—even harder—to commit to fixing this broken policy and stand with women when they are at their most vulnerable."

Other organizations called for the rest of the presidential candidates to follow Clinton's (admittedly) modest lead and speak out on the need for reform.

"The United States should help eliminate violence against women, not compound it," Planned Parenthood Action Fund president Cecile Richards told Broadly. "Correctly implementing the Helms Amendment—supporting abortion access for rape victims and when a pregnancy threatens a woman's life—would be a modest step towards broader progress for women and girls.

"I hope all candidates will similarly express their support for expanding access to reproductive health at home and abroad," Richards continued, "and ultimately take action for women and girls around the world including by correctly implementing the Helms Amendment."