The International Planned Parenthood Federation's director-general, Tewodros Melesse, arrived in Australia this week and was thrilled to see that ad. It spells out the mainstream Australian attitude to safe sex and reproductive rights. But he fears that's about to come under pressure.

Next week, another extraordinary fighter, Katja Iversen, the chief executive of international advocacy group Women Deliver, comes to Australia to muscle up the campaign to protect our right to choose.

Here's our problem.

A foreign ruler is trying to tell you what you can do with your body. And he's not just trying to tell you what you can do with your body, he's putting pressure on governments to stop funding those organisations that help you make informed decisions.

Those who fight for the right to choose are banding together, asking for help and support from all of us. We all need to stand up and fight back. Not just for ourselves but for people everywhere.

Don't assume that just because you live in Australia, this insanity won't affect you. It will – and the forces of coercion and control are already coming for you.

When the appalling Donald Trump reinstated what is called the global gag rule, it wasn't quite clear how far he had gone down the road of ruling our ovaries and our right to choose.

But the more distance we have from his barbaric, poorly informed executive order, the clearer it becomes. Here's a pussy-grabbing father of five with three different partners who has signed an order that says US government funding must not go to any health organisation that provides information, counselling or referrals related to abortion, even if abortion is legal in their country. This is much worse. It includes all global health aid provided by the US.

The global gag rule (also known as the Mexico City policy) has terrible consequences for us all. This isn't just me in a fury. This is international experts telling us that this is a disaster.

The last time the United States went down this path, researchers at Stanford University examined the effect of the global gag rule on women in sub-Saharan Africa. Terrifying results and it certainly wasn't the result the punitive lawmakers hoped for.

There was a dramatic rise in induced abortions. The countries that experienced the greatest cuts in US support for health organisations under the policy saw the number of induced abortions double between 2001 and 2008, along with a decline in contraceptive use.

Shorter?

Abortion rates rose. Contraception rates fell. Let me quote from the research: "Reduced financial support for family planning may have led women to substitute abortion for contraception."

Melesse is in Australia this week. He knows clinics and community outreach centres around the world will be forced to close. More unintended pregnancies. More unsafe abortions. More maternal deaths.

He spoke to me on Sunday night, exhausted. Melesse knew all through the election exactly what (the now Vice-President) Michael Pence's position was on reproductive rights. But he was shocked when he realised that Trump would fall into line, "given his own personal life and his political stance".

"In some ways, it's very difficult to understand how a place could turn back and really be at an earlier century in terms of women's empowerment and democracy."

And the US is also trying to force that position on other countries that need financial support. People, this is not just about sex and reproduction, it's also about population.

The International Planned Parenthood Federation will lose $US100 million over three years in the US. Mozambique will lose 60 per cent of its aid budget. Nepal will lose $US1 million. That story will be played out over and over again across the world, with major effects on people everywhere. Population. Environment. Climate. Health. These are all closely knit and one action in one area affects all, affects us all.

Melesse fears that, even in Australia, the political aspects of the gag rule will trickle down to us as we obey what he describes as Big Brother. "It will give energy to conservative forces, give them a boost."

And may even affect what we have available here. Remember, Australia had a policy just like the global gag rule, introduced under John Howard and dismantled by Kevin Rudd, but only after former US president Barack Obama went first. That was our government telling other countries it won't give money to any organisation that provided abortion counselling with Australian dollars.

Don't think it can't happen here. It can and has.

The global gag rule is unfair and undemocratic and is based on an inequality of nations.

Ann Brassil, the chief executive of Family Planning NSW, is horrified and says the global gag rule sends a message about the lives of girls and women.

"If America can control the message to people in developing countries about abortion and contraception, that message is not lost on the rest of the world on the value of women and their rights. It says a lot to women – about women."

The last word to Katja Iversen.

"My message to Australia is this: the global gag rule is a violation of women's rights to choose how many children they will have, when they will have them and with whom.

"We must all push back, locally, politically, economically. We must stand up for these rights and stay committed to them, whether it's in overseas development aid or through private fundraising."

Stand up. Fight back. Donate. You might still be able to run down to the local chemist and pick up the pill. Let's try to make sure that happens for everyone.

Twitter: @jennaprice

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