50 nations seek to counter US ban on family planning funds

BRUSSELS (AP) — Some 50 countries have signed up to attend a family planning conference in Brussels aimed at making up the gap left by President Donald Trump's ban on U.S. funding to groups linked to abortion, organizers said Wednesday.

Swedish Vice Premier Isabella Lovin told the AP that even though maternal mortality rates have declined by almost half in the last generation, "every second minute a woman or a girl dies in the world due to pregnancy."

The U.S. ban on funding to organizations that perform abortions or discuss the procedure with clients has been instituted by Republican administrations and rescinded by Democratic ones since 1984.