Republicans in the U.S. House passed the State and Foreign Operations appropriations bill that included a ban on global health funding to international non-governmental organizations that perform or promote abortion. The policy known as the Mexico City policy first began under President Reagan and was expanded under President Trump to apply to all global health funding, including the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR)—a program which receives over $6 billion dollars a year in grant money from U.S. taxpayers. President Biden overturned the pro-life policy upon assuming office.

The Republican bill reauthorized PEPFAR for a year, rather than a 5-year renewal of over $30 billion dollars which the Biden administration had requested. Rep. Chris Smith, Chair of the House Global Health Subcommittee and Congressional Pro-Life Caucus Chair, celebrated the one-year renewal after having challenged Biden’s new direction for PEPFAR. Smith had warned, “Regrettably, PEPFAR has been reimagined—hijacked—by the Biden Administration to empower pro-abortion international non-governmental organizations, deviating from its life-affirming work.”

Following passage Rep. Smith said, “Thankfully, the House has voted to reject Biden’s new PEPFAR abortion promotion strategy and increase spending for its life-saving programs while ensuring key pro-life protections.

“This critical legislation continues and strengthens PEPFAR for another year ensuring that critically needed medicines—including anti-retroviral (ARVs) and other life-saving interventions—are available to those who need them in Africa and elsewhere.”

Pro-life organizations also celebrated the vote. Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of SBA Pro-Life America said, “PEPFAR is a wonderful bipartisan program that combats HIV/AIDS around the globe… In fact, a bill to continue the program has passed in the House with critical pro-life guardrails. We applaud the House for protecting the core mission of the program against the Biden Administration’s attempts to use an AIDS relief program to jam their agenda to fund abortion providing groups to carry out ‘reproductive health, rights and services’.”

Dannenfelser explained the use of ‘reproductive health, rights and services’: “These are coded terms for abortion on demand exported to countries around the world, a position the majority of Americans disagree with. The Biden Administration has made it clear they will stop at nothing to force their radical abortion agenda into every facet of federal government, including a popular bipartisan program that combats AIDS around the world.”

The bill next goes to the Senate.

The White House announced that it is investing over $2.8 billion in foreign assistance programs “that promote gender equality”— a doubling of last year’s funding. The announcement explained that the investment “aligns with and furthers” the U.S. National Strategy on Gender Equity and Equality, a strategy that seeks to “protect the constitutional right to safe and legal abortion established in Roe v. Wade in the United States, while promoting access to sexual and reproductive health and rights both at home and abroad.”

The Strategy laments that “reproductive health and rights in the United States are under attack” since the Dobbs decision and that women in the United States “have faced a growing number of obstacles to and restrictions on reproductive health care, including safe and legal abortion”. Biden’s Interconnected Priorities of the Strategy seek “to advance gender equity and equality and further prosperity and stability at home and abroad” by focusing on ten strategic priorities including #3: “protecting, improving, and expanding access to health care, including sexual and reproductive health care.”

During the recent U.N. high level meeting on the Sustainable Development Goals, the U.S. Permanent Representative to the Economic and Social Council stated that “Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) for all remains foundational to promoting gender equality and global health.”

A debate over funding for PEPFAR— the President’s Emergency Program for Aids Relief which began in 2003—took place in the House of Representatives with pro-life lawmakers supported by pro-life groups working to ensure that the funds are not used for the killing of unborn children by international NGOs who perform or promote abortion.

The debate took place on September 28, a day selected by pro-abortion activists to be ‘International Safe Abortion Day’ and so recognized by UN entities, especially by WHO, a member of UNAIDS. WHO states, “Abortion care is health care, and health is a human right.”

A number of pro-abortion groups, including those working in the HIV/AIDS area, have voiced their support for both abortion and PEPFAR. GNP+, the Global Network of People Living w/ HIV based in the Netherlands, tweeted a meme stating access to abortion is at the center of the reproductive health and overall well-being of women living with HIV. It wrote, “Prioritizing informed choice and quality abortion care is imperative to meet reproductive health needs and leave no one behind.”

Groups liking the tweet included HIV groups and a number of PEPFAR partners: UNAIDS, Global Fund for Women, Women4GlobalFund (W4GF), Population Council, ICW (International Community of Women Living with HIV), Aidsfonds International, Y+ Global (a network of young people living with and affected by HIV) and PYWV (Positive Young Women Voices).

The Global Network of People Living w/ HIV also led a statement to Congress— Renew PEPFAR, keep your promise to save lives—highlighting the fact that PEPFAR has established healthcare infrastructure in the countries it serves. Pro-life advocates are concerned that the good will and healthcare infrastructure created by PEPFAR will be integrated with abortion by pro-abortion NGOs.

Fòs Feminista, the International Alliance for Sexual and Reproductive Health, Rights, and Justice, (formerly IPPF Western Hemisphere), is a member of another HIV coalition Global AIDS Policy Partnership calling for PEPFAR to be reauthorized as it leads the “Green Wave” to overturn laws against abortion in Latin American and the Caribbean.

Rep. Chris Smith, chair of the Congressional Pro-Life Caucus, explained pro-life concerns during debate on the House floor and thanked Chairman Mario Diaz-Balart and the Committee on Appropriations “for insisting that the noble purpose of PEPFAR not be compromised or undercut by integrating and merging other agendas—including and especially the promotion of abortion by massively funding pro-abortion foreign non-governmental organizations and instructing them to repeal pro-life laws and policies.”

Read more here.

Pro-abortion activists are worried that the Dobbs decision has energized the pro-life movement in Africa. A left-leaning news report states that while abortion is restricted across much of the region, countries that have expanded access are seeing a backlash. It quotes the program director for Ipas who believes that the “Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v Wade has electrified Ethiopia’s anti-abortion movement, leaving the country’s landmark 2005 abortion law on shaky ground.” The Ethiopian law legalized abortion for broad social or economic grounds according to the Center for Reproductive Rights.

During the last year, the pro-life movement is protesting the abortion law and “are targeting policymakers, health providers — anyone who might have a strong stake in sexual reproductive health services” according to the Ethiopia country director for MSI Reproductive Choices (formerly Marie Stopes International) who believes the current abortion law is “very vulnerable”.

In Kenya, pro-lifers are also “drawing on Roe’s reversal to challenge abortion policy”. Quoting a report about Dobbs’ global impact by the pro-abortion organization Fòs Feminista, the International Alliance for Sexual and Reproductive Health, Rights, and Justice, (formerly known as IPPF Western Hemisphere). The report highlights a 2022 constitutional court decision that affirmed abortion as a fundamental right in Kenya’s constitution (under influence and pressure from international pro-abortion groups and foreign governments, including the United States.)

Pro-life advocates in Kenya are now arguing that the judge who decided the case relied on “bad law” from the U.S. when he cited Roe v Wade. That decision is now stayed, pending appeal. “The fact that it was entertained is really worrisome to many that are working on the ground in Kenya,” according to a ‘global advocacy officer’ for Fòs Feminista.

In the Nigerian state of Lagos, the governor suspended policy guidelines about self-managed abortion less than a month after Roe was overturned. International pro-abortion organizations had been instrumental in the writing of the guidelines. The report states that pro-life advocates argued after Dobbs that the governor should follow the ruling’s lead and revoke the provisions and he did.

The good news is that the pro-life movement in Africa is encouraged and see the success in the U.S. as a possible model for restoring protection for the unborn in countries where there have been gains in access to the killing of unborn children. Meanwhile, pro-abortion activists see Dobbs as a warning. A representative for Fòs Feminista said, “For the longest time, Roe has been seen as a gold standard. And so the fact that this can happen in the U.S. is a very clear indication to some in the feminist movement in Africa that it can happen here as well. These gains can be lost over time.”

She believes that the pro-live movement is working strategically: “They’re not making mistakes. They are targeting big countries, countries with political influence and countries with very strong religious communities.”

Pope Francis spoke out against both abortion and euthanasia as actions that “play with life” while aboard the papal plane. Having departed France, which is considering legalizing euthanasia and which has extended the time limit for abortion to 14 weeks, Pope Francis addressed the two issues. He said, “You don’t play with life, neither at the beginning nor at the end. It is not played with!” The pontiff continued, “Whether it is the law not to let the child grow in the mother’s womb or the law of euthanasia in disease and old age” and explained, “I am not saying it is a faith thing, but it is a human thing: There is bad compassion.”

Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, Secretary for the Relations with States and International Organizations, served as Head of the Holy See Delegation at the High-Level Week at the Opening of the 78th Session of the United Nations General Assembly. During his remarks, the archbishop recalled that this year is the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the 30th anniversary of the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action. He stated that “the significant anniversaries of these documents invite to an in-depth reflection on the foundation of human rights and respect for them in the contemporary world in order to renew commitments in favour of the defence of human dignity.”

He noted that in the world today “numerous forms of injustice persist” and said, “First and foremost among these are the unborn, who are denied the right to come into the world, in some case due to their sex or disability.” 

Archbishop Gabriele Giordano Caccia, Apostolic Nuncio and Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations, in a statement to the Third Committee on social development expressed deep concern for the what Pope Francis called the “throwaway culture” which reduces “the value of human beings to what they produce.” He asked, Is it any wonder that “persons are no longer seen as a paramount value to be cared for and respected, especially when they are poor and disabled, “not yet useful’ – like the unborn, or ‘no longer needed’ – like the elderly”?

In the Third Committee meeting on the Advancement of women, Archbishop Caccia spoke of the need to protect women and girls from the dangers of human trafficking and exploitation, including in the production of pornography. He called for recognizing “women’s moral and spiritual strength, which is joined to their awareness that God entrusts the human being to mothers in a special way, and that makes their presence and contribution essential within the family, the different spheres of society and in the life of the whole nation.”

The Nuncio affirmed that respect for women “must include cherishing their unique gifts and capacities, including motherhood”. He lamented that too often “this capacity is viewed as a liability’ and called for efforts to make childbirth safer instead of a “narrow focus on pregnancy prevention to reduce maternal mortality”.



He objected to the promotion of abortion “which ends the lives of unborn children, when in fact their equal right to life should be respected while ensuring greater support for their mothers.” He called out the practice of prenatal sex selection “which has led to millions of missing girls, is an affront to the dignity of women and must be ended.” 

Under the context of HIV prevention, a Choice Manifesto was launched in Uganda by the African Women’s HIV Prevention Community Accountability Board (AWCAB). The event included leadership from PEPFAR, USAID, UNICEF, UN WOMEN, Global Fund, Ministry of Health, Uganda, Population Council, Aidsfonds, FHI 360 and other civil society organizations. Executive Director of UNAIDS, Winnie Byanyima, delivered the keynote address and publicly endorsed and signed the Manifesto along with representatives from other organizations. @Winnie_Byanyima: “The #ChoiceManifesto is about a girl’s, a woman’s ability to choose what works best for her—decisions about her own body. Her own autonomy.”

According to AVAC, co-chair of the Global AIDS Policy Partnership (GAPP) which is lobbying for a 5-year renewal of PEPFAR funding, the Choice Manifesto calls for the strategizing of national governments as PEPFAR, UNAIDS and the Global Fund are all moving towards a “people centered” approach that includes the “integration of HIV with sexual and reproductive health and attention to human rights.” It laments that while the words are there, “the strategies and budgets need to match” which helps to explain its activism to secure congressional 5-year funding for PEPFAR.

The Call to Action in the Manifesto states: Choice Is Key. Recommended Actions include: “Ensure women and girls have control over their health and their bodies and access to the full range of safe and effective options so that they can choose what works best for them at different times of their lives.” Use of the words “sexual and reproductive health”, “control over their bodies” and “full range of options” are often used when talking about access to abortion.

AVAC is a known pro-abortion organization which condemned the decision by a federal judge in Texas to suspend FDA’s approval of the abortion drug mifepristone. In its statement, it calls itself “a global organization dedicated to health as a human right, to social justice, and to individual autonomy and choice”. It states, “This decision cannot be allowed to stand. AVAC commits to working with our partners and allies to ensure that the right to access evidence-based medical care is not infringed and that the right to abortion, and reproductive rights overall, are protected for all.”

AVAC helped establish the Global AIDS Policy Partnership (GAPP) in Washington, D.C. which has been promoting a 5-year renewal of PEPFAR. The purpose of the group’s founding was to create diverse coalitions of organizations committed to maintaining and expanding HIV treatment and prevention, secure HIV funding at the U.S. and international levels, and identify policy priorities and campaigns to advance them.

The Spanish Presidency of the Council of the European Union held a conference in Zaragoza, Spain—The Guarantee of Sexual and Reproductive Rights in Europe— which called for the removal of laws, described as ‘barriers’, which protect the lives of children in the womb and restrict or ban abortion.

Speakers at the conference included Neil Datta, Executive Director of The European Parliamentary Forum for Sexual and Reproductive Rights (EPF) which is partnering with WHO to advance access to abortion globally. Datta was on a panel addressing the topic Sexual and Reproductive Rights and Health which was said to be “a crucial element for gender equality and the right to health”. The panel was said it would present “perspectives on the current situation of women's and girls' control over their own bodies.”

Attendees from throughout governments in Europe were invited to sign the Joint Ministerial Declaration on the Guarantee of Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights in the European Union. The Declaration stated, “SRHR are inherent part of the right to health but are also all women’s and girls´ human rights to make decisions about their own bodies and lives. The neglect of SRHR undermines gender equality.”

It stated that there is a “current backlash on women’s rights, including their sexual and reproductive health and rights, across the EU and beyond, is threatening hard-won progress and existing laws.”

The Declaration included:

·        Sexual and reproductive health and rights are an inherent part of gender equality and of the right to health.

·        Any threat of pushback against women's human rights and gender equality, and any initiative aimed at restricting SRHR, including attacks against women human rights defenders and SRHR defenders are strongly condemned.

Read more here.

The World Health Organization (WHO) signed an MoU with the European Parliamentary Forum for Sexual and Reproductive Rights (EPF) to mobilize political will on sexual and reproductive health and rights including abortion. EPF recently criticized Malta for its pro-life policy stating, “As representatives of the European and national Parliaments, we believe that access to safe and legal abortion is a fundamental right that should be guaranteed to all individuals, and is an essential component of women’s health care.”

Now it is targeting one of the safest countries in the world for preborn children—El Salvador which prohibits abortion—during a three-day visit and strategy planning session. Reports from the trip reveal the engagement with foreign government representatives to discuss funding for sexual and reproductive health and rights and with pro-abortion NGOs. EPF states that the delegation met with the EU representative in El Salvador, François Roudie, to discuss “what projects the EU is funding and supporting in the area of SRHR in El Salvador, and the barriers to implementation and funding of these projects.”

The parliamentarians met with the Director of the Italian Development Agency, Paolo Gallizioli to discuss the use of donor funding for SRHR programs “from an Italian perspective” and also met with country representatives from UNFPA, UNICEF, and UN Women. Meetings took place with diplomats from the EU Delegation to El Salvador and Italy and with the Canadian and British Ambassadors who it was reported “provided an in-depth insight into the international actors' approach to SRHR in El Salvador.”

Meetings included with “local parliamentarians from opposition parties” and with representatives of pro-abortion organizations IPAS and the Centre for Reproductive Rights to discuss access to SRHR services and what might happen after next year’s elections.

The MoU between the EPF and the WHO states that one of their goals is to provide “technical support to promote evidence-based laws and policies aligned to WHO normative guidance”. That guidance, found in WHO’s Abortion Care Guideline, includes: Strengthening access to comprehensive abortion care within the health system is fundamental to meeting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) relating to good health and well-being (SDG3) and gender equality (SDG5).



Pro-life lawmakers need to be vigilant for visits from the European Parliamentary Forum for Sexual and Reproductive Rights as it works with WHO to overturn laws protecting unborn children and their mothers from abortion.

A survey by the World Health Organization’s Partnership for Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health (PMNCH) was released ahead of the UN General Assembly last month. The PMNCH Special Report “Overturning Roe v. Wade: Concerns for Accessing Sexual and Reproductive Health Services, Including Safe Abortion” was reported to have been intended to help countries make the “case for SRH and rights to be prioritized and recognized with urgency within global agreements”.

The PMNCH Secretariat is hosted by the World Health Organization in Geneva which describes PMNCH as “the world’s largest alliance for women’s, children’s and adolescents’ health”. PMNCH believes, “Advocates and partners supporting health service provision must re-double their efforts to scale up access to comprehensive and accessible reproductive healthcare services to safeguard the well-being of individuals seeking the full range of SRH services, including safe abortion.”

The survey found that one-third of respondents primarily in Africa, South Asia and the Americas “believe there may be reduced access to sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) after the overturn of Roe v. Wade, the landmark ruling that legalized abortion in the United States in 1973.” The report was produced in collaboration with Fòs Feminista, AMREF and Aga Khan University.

Fòs Feminista, formerly IPPF Western Hemisphere, had conducted interviews about the impact of overturning Roe v. Wade, in collaboration with women's groups in Colombia, India, Kenya, and Nigeria. Survey responses included:

From a donor organization in India:

“India has for the first time seen an anti-choice/abortion protest across the country, along with judicial appeals to ban abortion and restrict access within the Indian courts system by faith-based opposition groups. This has never been an issue for India but is emerging/growing into one post Roe.”

From an organization focused on adolescents and youth in Sierra Leone:

“Funding for abortion advocacy has been a challenge for the most part, but with the Roe v. Wade repeal, it has doubled the constraints and challenges around access to funding.”

The survey also reports that Dobbs serves as a significant wake-up call for the feminist movement, underlining the “imperative of sustained abortion advocacy”.

WHO is promoting illegal self-induced abortion to women in Venezuela through a guide issued by WHO’s Department of Sexual and Reproductive Health and Research (HRP)—which includes UNDP-UNFPA-UNICEF-WHO-World Bank. A number of pro-abortion organizations are involved with the guide and the app it promotes, including Fòs Feminista, formerly IPPF Western Hemisphere, designed to instruct women on self-induced abortion. The nine-page document is titled “Self-management of abortion care in a legally restrictive and humanitarian setting: co-developing a digital selfcare companion with Venezuelan women and grassroots movements”.

Venezuela is recognized as having “highly restrictive abortion laws” and that abortion is legal only to save the life of pregnant women. The mobile app called Aya Contigo was created by Canadian NGO Vitala Global and is designed to assist Venezuelan women and girls as “they self-manage their medical abortions”. It is based on WHO abortion guidelines and described as providing “step-by-step guidance across the continuum of care, including self-assessment of eligibility for medical abortion, administration of medical abortion medicines, self-assessment of the successful completion of her abortion, and post-abortion contraception.”

Fòs Feminista representatives said, “We’re extremely pleased to work side by side with Vitala Global and our wonderful partners in Venezuela…” It praises “feminist solidarity” for “putting safe abortion information in women’s hands – in the most adverse national settings and under challenging global circumstances.”

A group of so-called UN “experts” issued a statement on so-called International Safe Abortion Day welcoming the decriminalization of abortion in some countries while expressing their concern that “in many others sexual and reproductive health rights are chronically neglected or at risk of retrogression everywhere.” They write that “sexual and reproductive health rights are interdependent from other human rights, including the right to life, the right to be free from torture, the right to health, the right to privacy, the right to education, the right to substantive equality and the prohibition of discrimination.” 

The recommendations from these pro-abortion UN elites include that States “commit resources” to ensure access to “legal and safe abortion”, train healthcare providers in abortion, “conscientious objection must be regulated”, and provide comprehensive sexuality education so everyone is “able to make autonomous decisions regarding their own body at all times.” This includes for youth without parental knowledge or consent.

The statement ends with a recommendation that “feminist movements dedicated to defending and advancing women’s human rights to bodily autonomy, and gender equality for all” be given more recognition and support for their work.

Issuing the statement: Tlaleng Mofokeng, Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health; Victor Madrigal-Borloz, Independent Expert on protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity; Ms. Dorothy Estrada-Tanck (Chair), Ms. Ivana Radačić (Vice-Chair), Ms. Elizabeth Broderick, Ms. Meskerem Geset Techane and Ms. Melissa Upreti - Working Group on discrimination against women and girls.

A coalition of groups used September 28, designated International Safe Abortion Day by pro-abortion activists, to send a letter to the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) calling for more support for abortion. The letter claimed that “there has been steady improvement in the recognition of abortion as a right in resolutions” while acknowledging that abortion “continues to be viewed by many states as a ‘contested’ or ‘sensitive’ issue.”

It laments that “universal access to sexual and reproductive health services for all women, girls, and pregnant people is still very far from reality and states “the lack of access to SRH services and information, including contraception, comprehensive sexuality education, and abortion, violates human rights norms.”

The groups took credit for any pro-abortion “gains made at the Council” writing that they are due to consistent advocacy by pro-abortion organizations who engage in the resolution-making process and use the Council agenda to “deliver statements calling for universal access to abortion.” 

The signers seek decriminalization of abortion globally with universal access to legal abortion through public health systems, and the adoption of pro-abortion policies and laws “that prioritize and uphold the right to bodily autonomy”.

The core group is comprised of Center for Reproductive Rights, the Association for Women’s Rights in Development, CHOICE for Youth and Sexuality, the International Planned Parenthood Federation, Ipas, the International Service for Human Rights, the Youth Coalition for Sexual and Reproductive Rights, the Asian-Pacific Resource and Research Centre for Women, MSI Reproductive Choices and the Swedish Association for Sexuality Education.

Western Australia (WA) has passed a bill expanding access to abortion. The Abortion Legislation Reform Bill 20203 decriminalized abortion and removes the requirement of a doctor’s referral to obtain one. The WA parliament rejected pro-life amendments, such as a born alive protection and a provision to ban sex-selective abortions. The Australian Christian Lobby called the bill “the most radical and liberal abortion law in the world.” Highlighting the lack of protections for babies who survive abortions, WA lawmaker Hon. Nick Goiran called the bill “barbaric.” He noted that babies born alive after abortion are not entitled to the same level of care as other babies born. “They are considered worthy of having a birth certificate, as a matter of law,” explained Goiran, “But if they subsequently die… and sometimes it takes a matter of hours… those deaths won’t be reported.”  

British Home Secretary Suella Braverman clarified that silent prayer is indeed permitted outside abortion clinics. In a letter to police forces, Ms. Braverman stated, “[I]t is worth remembering that silent prayer, in itself, is not unlawful.” She said, “I am concerned that confidence in policing has been affected by perceptions that the police have in recent years been seen, on occasion, to be taking a political stance.” Braverman cited several examples of instances where the police’s reaction to complaints appeared biased. “In all of these examples, public confidence was damaged by the sight of a supposedly apolitical police force siding with one group over another in a currently contentious area of public debate,” she stated. The letter follows a series of arrests of persons silently praying outside abortion clinics.

New Zealand’s buffer zones have gone into effect with the institution of eleven “safe area” zones. The buffer zones restrict any pro-life protests, information, or silent activity in the 150 meters outside designated abortion facilities. “The despairing message that the government is giving to women entering these so-called safe areas, is that this is a safe area to have your baby killed, with respect for your privacy and dignity,” said Ken Orr, spokesperson for Right to Life New Zealand. “Any woman entering a safe area alone, with nobody to love and help her, often abandoned and coerced by others, could be traumatised in the knowledge that it is now unlawful to offer her help to choose life for her baby.” It is expected that more buffer zones will soon follow. 

The Mexican Supreme Court has legalized abortion, ruling that the criminalization of abortion in the Federal Criminal Code is unconstitutional. According to the court, the law on abortion law “totally suppressed the constitutional right of women and people with the capacity to bear children to choose, and therefore their right to health, equality, and non-discrimination.” Following the ruling, the state of Aguascalientes has announced it will now offer “free” abortions. More states are expected to follow suit.

Pro-life groups and Catholic bishops have strongly criticized the ruling. Marical Padilla, director of pro-life ConParticipación warned that the ruling will put pressure on “senators and deputies to remove the protection of the right to life in the Federal Criminal Code.” Further, he said that “it sends the message to society that you can take the life of a son or daughter before birth. And that a son or daughter does not deserve the same protection of the law before birth as after birth.”

In a recent decision, Ecuacdor's Constitutional Court has removed the requirement of a medical exam, rape report or sworn statement for women seeking abortion in cases of rape. The ruling extends to young women and girls, as a recent policy made abortion available to adolescents in cases of rape. The parliament is expected to vote on new measure when new members are sworn in this December.