The global gag rule directly affects the ability of girls and women to decide what happens to their bodies. Naturally, the reinstatement and the expansion of the rule provoked a sense of anger, indignation, and hopelessness — not just for those who have been working for decades to ensure girls and women have access to all of the health care they need, but also for anybody who believes that girls and women should be free.

That anger, indignation, and hopelessness radically transformed into energy, action, and hope. A bold new movement was born: She Decides. A movement to say that she decides what happens to her body — including when, whether, and with whom she has children. It was a call to action for all those who shared a visceral desire to do something. It then became a hashtag, and just six weeks later, there was a conference where we saw 200 million euros pledged to organizations that were affected by the global gag rule.

The She Decides movement now has 36 champions at the helm, including 10 government ministers, several NGO leaders, and youth activists, and countries and foundations have mobilized 400 million euros to fill the funding gap created by the global gag rule, plus an additional 500,000 euros donated by private individuals via Rutgers. This week there have been hundreds of individuals conspiring in India to form the first national movement of She Decides — due to launch in March.

Read the full article about She Decides by Lilianne Ploumen at Devex.