The Helms Amendment to the Foreign Assistance Act, sometimes called simply the Helms Amendment,[1] is a 1973 amendment, passed by the U.S. Congress in the wake of the Roe v. Wade decision by the United States Supreme Court, to limit the use of US foreign assistance for abortion.[2][3]
Named after North Carolina senator Jesse Helms, the amendment states that "no foreign assistance funds may be used to pay for the performance of abortion as a method of family planning or to motivate or coerce any person to practice abortions."[4]
- ^ Barot, Sneha (September 23, 2013). "Abortion Restrictions in U.S. Foreign Aid: The History and Harms of the Helms Amendment". Guttmacher Institute. Retrieved December 19, 2023.
- ^ "Helms Amendment Hurts Women Worldwide". www.plannedparenthoodaction.org. Retrieved June 29, 2016.
- ^ Amendments, United States Congress Senate Committee on the Judiciary Subcommittee on Constitutional (1974). Abortion: Hearings Before the Subcommittee on Constitutional Amendments of the Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate, Ninety-third Congress, Second Session [-Ninety-fourth Congress, First Session] ... U.S. Government Printing Office. p. 90. Retrieved February 17, 2023.
- ^ "Helms Amendment | U.S. Foreign Policy & Funding | The Issues | CHANGE". www.genderhealth.org. Retrieved June 29, 2016.