Alma Golden

Golden And Valerie Huber Represented The Trump Administration’s Anti-Reproductive Health Ideology During A United Nations Meeting. “Two Trump administration officials — Alma Golden of USAID and Valerie Huber of the US Department of Health and Human Services — emphasized their agencies’ anti-abortion views at another off-the-record meeting during the session. The goal of this meeting was for US officials to brief NGOs about the US’s ‘priorities on international women’s issues,’ the US Mission to the UN spokesperson said.” [BuzzFeed News, 4/17/18]

Golden Denounced Bodily Autonomy As A Tenet Of Reproductive Health. “Late on Thursday night, Dr. Alma Golden, representing the U.S. Agency for International Development, among the top funders of development in the world, told the assembly, ‘We have stated clearly, and on many occasions, consistent with the International Conference on Population [and Development] Program of Action, that we do not recognize abortion as a method of family planning, nor do we support abortion in our reproductive health assistance. The term sexual and reproductive health does not include the promotion of abortion nor do we recognize an international right to abortion.’” [C-FAM, 5/25/18]

In Her Current Role, Golden Has Irresponsibly Denied The Repercussions Of The Trump Administration’s Expanded Global Gag Rule

The Trump Administration Implemented And Expanded A Global Gag Rule During Trump’s First 100 Days In Office. “The policy change was one of Trump’s first acts as president. On Jan. 23, 2017, he signed an executive order that denied U.S. assistance to any foreign-based organization that performs, promotes or offers information on abortion. A similar plan, known as the Mexico City policy, was in effect under past Republican presidents. But Trump expanded it exponentially to apply not just to around $600 million in overseas family-planning funds, but to the entire $8.8 billion in annual U.S. global health aid.” [Washington Post, 10/10/18]

Golden Denied The Global Gag Rule’s Significant And Detrimental Impact On Reproductive Health Care Services… “American officials say they don’t believe the new policy will ultimately reduce the availability of health care. ‘We are not changing funding amounts by one dollar,’ said Alma Golden, a deputy assistant administrator for USAID, the government’s foreign-aid agency. Funds denied to some organizations will be redirected to others that provide similar services and promise to follow the new policy, officials say.” [Washington Post, 10/10/18]

…Despite Evidence That The Global Gag Rule Has Cut Critical Access To Birth Control In Remote Regions Of The World… “Marie Stopes doesn’t provide abortions in Madagascar, as they are illegal in most cases. But it does advocate for the legalization of abortion. The end of USAID funding for at least the next three years has hit the group hard. Its administrative staff in Madagascar is taking a mandatory five days unpaid leave per month. A voucher program that provided free contraception to 170,000 women and girls was eliminated. Marie Stopes is especially concerned it might have to suspend its 21 mobile clinics, which rove Madagascar by truck, boat and sometimes even hovercraft. They used to be fully funded by USAID and are now running on shoestring budgets. Where a team of four health professionals once went to a village, now it’s often two, and the number of operations performed has declined by half, the group says. An additional mobile clinic has already been eliminated.” [Washington Post, 10/10/18]

…And That The Global Gag Rule Has Severely Restricted Overall Health Care Access. “More broadly, the policy has created a wave of uncertainty in aid-dependent countries. For the first time, groups that treat HIV, malaria and other illnesses will also have to pledge to have no role in promoting abortion — or forgo American aid. Many organizations will face a dilemma, advocates say, since abortion-related services are often integrated into general health care in poor nations. Disentangling them can be difficult. ‘This is now a massive, potentially devastating experiment with people’s lives,’ said Asia Russell, executive director of Health GAP, a global AIDS and human-rights advocacy group, who is based in Uganda.” [Washington Post, 10/10/18]

Despite The Harmful Effects Of The Trump Administration’s Global Gag Rule, Golden Has Pushed The Narrative That The U.S. Government Is Committed To Expanding Family Planning

Golden Falsely Claims That The Administration Is Committed To Women’s And Children Health, Including Family Planning. “Golden, of USAID, said the U.S. government remained committed to expanding family planning. ‘We recognize the timing and spacing of children is critical to women’s health and the health of their children,’ she said.” [Washington Post, 10/10/18]

Golden, An Abstinence-Only Advocate, Was Appointed By Bush To Oversee Title X. “Bush also appointed Alma Golden — who opposes contraception and sex education — to oversee implementation of Title X, the nation's only federally funded family planning program. He issued rules in 2002 making a fetus eligible for federal health dollars while explicitly excluding the pregnant woman from coverage. And on his watch, abstinence is the only sex education we fund for public schools with our federal tax dollars.” [Chicago Tribune, 1/7/07]  

Golden Was Identified As A “Leading Advocate Of Abstinence Programs.” “‘We want to be clear on how the teens perceive the message, but it's something we're still trying to learn about,’ said Dr. Alma Golden, deputy assistant secretary for population affairs in the Health and Human Services Department, who is a pediatrician and leading advocate of abstinence programs. Because abstinence education began to spread across the nation only in the late 1990s, Golden said, rigorous long-term scientific studies of its effectiveness in reducing rates of teenage pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases are still several years away. By the same token, she said, there are no studies that prove the benefits of teaching youths how to use contraceptives.” [Chicago Tribune, 4/18/04]

In The Bush Administration, Golden Served Alongside Other Appointees Who Were Against Comprehensive Sex Education. “Several key officials in HHS have presided over the ambitious abstinence agenda, one they championed before joining the administration and which many sex educators and health specialists argue is based more on ideology than science. Proponents include Claude Allen, deputy secretary for Health and Human Services, a conservative who has been nominated for a federal judgeship; Wade Horn, assistant secretary for children and families and a proponent of marriage as a solution to poverty; Dr. Alma Golden, a pediatrician who is deputy assistant secretary for population affairs; and William Steiger, special adviser to Secretary Tommy Thompson.” [Newsday, 10/22/04]

Under The Bush Administration, Abstinence-Only Programs Were Awarded Large Grants, Despite Inadequate Proof Of Program Efficacy… “The amount of grant funding for abstinence only programs had been characterized as a ‘financial windfall for some longtime advocates of abstinence education,’ critics say. ‘Grants have gone to groups that create curriculum for abstinence courses, further fueling the growth of programs,’ said William Smith, director of public policy for the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States even though funding of these programs were critiqued by those within the abstinence only community for not being evidence-based. Michael Young, University of Arkansas professor of health science and developer of an abstinence curriculum called ‘Sex Can Wait,’ said many programs lack published evaluations in peer-reviewed journals. ‘The amount of money being spent on this is pretty ridiculous when you look at the lack of accountability for outcomes,’ he said.” [Newsday, 10/22/04]

…And A Congressional Analysis That Highlighted Medically Inaccurate Content Found In The Programs. “The Bush administration is funding sexual health projects that teach children that HIV can be contracted through sweat and tears, touching genitals can result in pregnancy, and that a 43-day-old foetus is a thinking person. A congressional analysis of more than a dozen federally funded ‘abstinence-only programmes’ unveiled a litany of ‘false, misleading and distorted information’ in teaching materials after reviewing curriculums designed to prevent teenage pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases.” [The Guardian, 12/3/04]

Golden Claimed The Congressional Analysis Was Discriminatory. “But government officials said Mr. Waxman’s report rehashed old anti-abstinence prejudices for political purposes. Alma Golden, the deputy assistant health and human services secretary for population affairs, said it took statements out of context to present programmes in the worst possible light. ‘These issues have been raised before and discredited,’ Ms. Golden said. ‘One thing is very clear for our children: abstaining from sex is the most effective means of preventing the sexual transmission of HIV, STDs, and preventing pregnancy.’” [The Guardian, 12/3/04]

Golden Also Denounced The Congressional Analysis As A “Political Document.” “Alma Golden, deputy assistant secretary for population affairs in the Department of Health and Human Services, said in a statement that Waxman's report is a political document that does a ‘disservice to our children.’ Speaking as a pediatrician, Golden said, she knows ‘abstaining from sex is the most effective means of preventing the sexual transmission of HIV, STDs and preventing pregnancy.’” [Washington Post, 12/2/04]

Golden, Despite Sufficient Evidence, Denied Bias In The Bush Administration’s Grant Funding Process. “The new program, requiring that all elements of the abstinence message be addressed, became the preferred vehicle for conservatives seeking abstinence money. Golden rejected criticism by Smith and others that the abstinence money is aimed at one part of Bush's political base. She said the money is awarded competitively and said several early proponents of abstinence education recently lost funding.” [Newsday, 10/22/04]

Golden’s Advocacy For Abstinence Was Quoted On A Federal Grantee’s Website. “The abstinence-only programs — which have largely replaced safe-sex education — have not only curbed the distribution of condoms and birth control pills in school health clinics, but have entirely banned information about contraceptives and sexual health. The nonprofit Abstinence Clearinghouse, which promotes such programs, says few could argue that refraining from sex is the only sure-fire way to prevent pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. And it dismisses repeated studies finding that abstinence-only programs are ineffective in either delaying sexual experience among teens or protecting them from disease. So does Alma Golden, Bush's pick to head the Population Affairs department, which runs the programs. ‘One thing is very clear for our children, abstaining from sex is the most effective means of preventing the sexual transmission of HIV, STDs and preventing pregnancy and the emotional, social and educational consequences of teen sexual activity,’ she says on the Clearinghouse's Web site.” [Salon, 4/27/2005]

Golden’s Website Mischaracterized LGBTQ People As An “Alternative Lifestyle.” “Golden said focus groups helped the department develop the Web site, which stresses abstinence, and that some of the concerns surprised her because they did not set off alarm bells in the focus groups. For example, she cited the phrase ‘alternative lifestyle,’ and said, ‘We were not aware that was an area of sensitivity.’” [The Houston Chronicle, 5/15/05]

When Criticized And Forced To Revise The Site, Golden Still Chose To Diminish LGBTQ Identities As Lifestyle Choices. “Another Trump administration official, USAID Deputy Assistant Administrator Alma Crumm Golden, attended the briefing but didn’t participate in the panel, per the congressional aide. From 2002 to 2006, Golden ran the Office of Population Affairs, the HHS division responsible for family planning funding for people with low incomes. In 2005, she was forced to revise a government website promoting teen abstinence while characterizing sexual orientation as an ‘alternative lifestyle.’ Her update — ‘lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender lifestyle’ — still characterized sexual orientation and gender identity as a ‘lifestyle.’” [Rewire News, 2/8/18]

The Bush Administration’s Appointment Of Golden Was Opposed By Religious Leaders Concerned With Women’s Health Being Managed By An Extreme Ideology. “The Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice has identified at minimum eleven instances of extremist interference in reproductive health: appointees who oppose abortion rights and responsible sexuality education on ideological grounds, including Alma Golden as deputy assistant secretary for population affairs at HHS.” [PR Newswire, 10/22/02]

Planned Parenthood Cited Golden’s Track Record As Evidence Of Her Inability To Positively Impact Global Reproductive Health Outcomes. “After the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations held a hearing today on Alma Golden’s nomination to be Assistant Administrator for Global Health at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), Planned Parenthood announced its opposition to Golden’s nomination, calling on the Senate to thoroughly investigate her ability to protect the health and rights of people worldwide. Golden currently serves as the Senior Deputy Assistant Administrator, Bureau for Global Health, and would lead the bureau’s work to prevent child and maternal deaths and combat the HIV/AIDS epidemic and infectious diseases. During today’s hearing, Golden repeated the Trump administration’s ideology and dodged tough questions on the harmful impact of the global gag rule from Senators Cardin, Shaheen, and Kaine. This is concerning because it is clear that the global gag rule is harming access to vital health education and services around the world.” [Planned Parenthood, 10/31/19]