Global voices: Beth reacts to the second Trump presidency

In the ‘Global Voices’ series, we share seven stories from MSI healthcare providers, leaders, clients and partners. Their reflections and experiences inform, inspire and invigorate–read them all in our latest Annual Review.

Beth Schlachter is MSI’s Senior Director of US External Relations and has worked in the reproductive rights sector for 20 years. She explains her reaction to a second Trump presidency and why his foreign aid agenda presents the biggest challenge she’s seen yet.

In the days following the presidential election here in America, many people – my family and me included – felt a wave of fear for ourselves and the world. Electing Trump for a second time was a deliberate choice and I feel our story as a nation – or at least my understanding of it – has truly shifted. I know we must step up to meet this moment. Not to rebuild what was, but to do better in many ways.

We weren’t the only country to vote last year. 14 countries where MSI works were part of the biggest election year in history. But the US election was unique in that its outcome would impact millions of people globally, given our country has historically been the world’s largest donor of international aid assistance.

That’s why, with the US administration set on dismantling aid, everything just got harder.

In a move that we expected, Trump’s ‘global gag rule’ immediately slashed funding for any foreign organisation that provides or advocates for abortion. This insidious policy, first launched by Ronald Reagan and reinstated by every Republican president since, tries to force organisations to end any abortion-related work by threatening to discontinue their funding. In practice, it also reduces women’s access to contraception and other essential healthcare. MSI has never signed the gag rule. This time we lost $14 million in US funding, but providing and advocating for abortion unapologetically is something we’ll never stop. It’s in MSI’s DNA, and why I was so proud to join this team last year.

We knew Trump wanted to change the US approach to development and humanitarian assistance, but few imagined the chaos of those first few months and how far beyond the global gag rule he would go. The programmes of more than 10,000 organisations across over 120 countries were shut down overnight, abruptly ending life-saving care with no attempt to mitigate harm. People with deep technical expertise are out of jobs, important relationships that support health systems have been upended and much of the global health landscape has been gutted.

Meanwhile, anti-choice groups have been invigorated, and they’re actively exporting advocacy playbooks and money overseas. They want control over women’s bodies, and they won’t stop.

Many people around the world left in the lurch by these shocking decisions are looking to organisations still operating – like MSI – to continue to deliver services by any means possible. We’re at a precipice and it’s essential that organisations like ours are speaking out and pushing back – especially with so many other organisations silenced or facing closure. In my decades working in global health, this is the biggest challenge I’ve seen yet.

But we are ready for this moment. MSI has the experience, data and expertise to continue pushing forward, and we’re laser-focused on holding the line on reproductive rights. So that we can diminish the influence of erratic US decisions in the future, we’re finding new ways to shift power and capacity to local groups and national governments wherever possible. We also advocate ‘by doing’: our teams continue to show up and provide care. We’re opening our blue doors to anyone who needs our services. And we’re gathering and using data and insights to show why this work is so important.

The solidarity we’ve seen across the global health sector is holding firm. There are many people, organisations and governments on the right side of history who believe in upholding healthcare, international aid, and the right of everyone to have agency over their own lives.

We can’t sugarcoat what’s happening, but we’re not powerless – we just have to keep showing up. Moments like this bring us together and push us to be bolder. Braver.

Women and girls – people neither you nor I will ever meet – are counting on MSI for services that support their rights, their lives and futures, and I want to say to them: we won’t go away just because it got harder. Nothing important is ever easy.