More than 200 U.S. diplomatic and aid officials have signed a letter accusing the U.S. State Department of interfering with medically necessary and life-saving reproductive health services for employees stationed abroad.
Signed by 206 employees of the State Agency and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the letter states that diplomats and aid officers, most often women, have “daily access to complete reproductive medicine, including family planning services.” It has been rejected. ” Inconsistent access to trained medical professionals blocked from returning to the United States for rape kits, emergency medical procedures.
This letter was sent to senior executives at both the Department of State and USAID in December 2021. The State Department’s Department of Medical Services responded in April, according to several current and former diplomats familiar with the matter.
More than 200 U.S. diplomatic and aid officials have signed a letter accusing the U.S. State Department of interfering with medically necessary and life-saving reproductive health services for employees stationed abroad.
Signed by 206 employees of the State Agency and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the letter states that diplomats and aid officers, most often women, have “daily access to complete reproductive medicine, including family planning services.” It has been rejected. ” Inconsistent access to trained medical professionals blocked from returning to the United States for rape kits, emergency medical procedures.
This letter was sent to senior executives at both the Department of State and USAID in December 2021. The State Department’s Department of Medical Services responded in April, according to several current and former diplomats familiar with the matter.
The letter states that it faces a medical emergency, from those who are “suffering from an almost deadly ectopic pregnancy” to those who are “suffering from a miscarriage at one of the most contaminated posts in the world.” An example of the Ministry of State that did not provide assistance to employees was mentioned when “miscarriage is illegal and serves in a country referred to by an illegal local health care provider by a medical unit”.
A link to the letter appeared in an opinion piece by USAID executives released this month. Foreign Service Journal, A magazine of the American Foreign Affairs Bureau Association representing Foreign Service Officers. “This is the story of a group of women who have decided not to keep their silence anymore, despite the shame, sadness, fear, anxiety and trauma we still feel in the aftermath of the experience we share below. “And Andrea Capellan writes, USAID officer.
“American diplomats in countries around the world are denied access to the same services that are legal and readily available in the countries we represent. You like yourself.. We no longer support this, “she wrote.
Capellan, the U.S. Department of State’s Department of Medical Services, commonly referred to by the U.S. diplomatic aid community as “MED,” is a life-threatening situation that “aggressively and repeatedly imposes impossible decisions and significant financial burden on patients. I fell into it. “
A State Department spokesperson said the State Department “is responsible for providing employees with very serious care, including providing assisted reproductive technology in the post.”
After receiving the letter, a spokesperson said the State Department had begun investigating the complaints outlined in the letter. MED has launched a change to provide direct communication between patients to MED leaders, and after replying to the first letter in April, “Plan B” emergency contraception at US diplomatic outposts around the world. We have implemented a plan to start supplying medicines.
A State Department spokesperson said to ensure that emergency contraceptives and rape kits are available at all clinics and “maintain a regularly updated list” of local health care providers. The ministry has already said it is “implementing policies.” Spokespersons must also comply with the Hyde amendment, a federal law that prohibits the use of federal funds to pay for abortions unless the mother’s life is at stake or pregnancy results from rape or incest. Emphasized that it must be.
USAID did not respond to requests for comment.
Without appropriate reforms, the allegations outlined in the letter are byden, both domestically and on its foreign policy agenda, including US funding for global sexual and reproductive health programs in developing countries. It can undermine the sexual and reproductive health policies stated by the administration itself.
“In the Biden Harris administration, empowerment and protection of women and girls, including the promotion of sexual and reproductive health and rights, is a central part of U.S. foreign policy and national security,” said Antony Blinken, U.S.A. The Secretary of State said in a statement. During the first week of the 2021 administration.
The letter was subsequently published in the context of a national debate on access to assisted reproductive technology in the United States. Politico This month, the Supreme Court released a leaked draft US Supreme Court opinion stating that it could overturn the right to federal abortion. However, only a small part of the cases outlined in the State Department letter were related to abortion.
Diplomats and aid officials who signed the letter provided better medical care and support to employees, including allowing the Department of State to evacuate to access assisted reproductive technology or abortion services 12 weeks before pregnancy. I want to do it.The State Department said, “In the state [MED] “Leadership on behalf of its members,” writes Capellan.
Although the Department of State and USAID are separate bodies, the Department of State oversees and coordinates several aspects of USAID, including managing budget and human resource issues. MED oversees the health issues of both State Department and USAID employees, in overseeing the health issues of U.S. government officials in conflict zones where embassies in developing countries and lack of adequate medical infrastructure are lacking. Can play a very big role in.
In recent years, MED has been accused by US diplomats and some US lawmakers of mistreating and cutting off support for US diplomats with children with disabilities. And their family has improved over the past year.
For the latest discussion of how MED treats employees, diplomats have published a post on the Department of State and USAID’s private Facebook group for women, and experience with access to assisted reproductive technology and abortion services abroad. It started when I asked about.The post quickly became viral, said four current and former U.S. diplomats. Foreign policy.. Everyone spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not allowed to talk to the media or did not want to publicly share their reproductive health crisis.
In the Facebook group, dozens of people have begun to share their experiences with MED refusing emergency medical procedures and medical evacuation to the United States. In one case, Capellan mentioned in her opinion piece, MED refused medical leave for a woman facing a dangerous pregnancy at a US diplomatic outpost in a country facing public anxiety. The country’s medical facilities burned during a widespread protest. Faced with her severe abdominal pain, the woman took an unpaid vacation and returned to the United States with her dime. She was told by the hospital that she had a terrible umbilical cord prolapse, and if she waited, her baby might have died.
Foreign policy We couldn’t validate these examples on our own, but four former diplomats who tracked stories shared by private Facebook groups say the examples are consistent with their own experience.
Eric Rubin, head of the American Foreign Affairs Association, said: Foreign policy The State Department says, “We have to pay the amount permitted by law to give people access to the medical care they really need.”
“It’s a matter of equity, and it’s also how we treat people who serve abroad in difficult situations,” he said.
