Dutch government pledges €15 million to She Decides family planning fund
The Dutch government is contributing another 15 million euros to the She Decides family planning fund, Development Minister Lilianne Ploumen announced at a music festival in Hamburg on Thursday. Ploumen established the fund to counteract Donald Trump and the American government's anti-abortion policies and decision to pull funding for family planning in third world countries, ANP reports.
This brings the Netherlands contribution to She Decides up to 15 million euros.
By withdrawing its annual $600 million contribution to family planning, the Americans threatened to deprive women in poor countries of sexual education, maternity care, contraception and safe abortions.
Ploumen's action to undo these cuts gave her almost superhero status and the fund quickly turned into an international movement. A number of fundraising actions were launched in the Netherlands and abroad. A massive 182 million euros were collected for She Decides at one conference in Brussels in March, according to NU.nl.
"She Decides means that every girl and every woman can safely exercise her right to decide for herself what she does with her body, who she shares her body with and whether she wants to have children. She must have access to education and information about her body and her options, modern contraception and safe abortion." the movement's website reads
Ploumen announced the extra Dutch contribution in Hamburg, Germany, where the G20 summit started on Friday. American president Donald Trump is also attending.
