1959

Medical doctors and social workers form the Family Planning Association of Nepal (FPAN).

1960

FPAN is officially affiliated with the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF).

1965

The Nepalese government initiates family planning policies and programs.

1973

AVSC International, later known as EngenderHealth, begins working with FPAN to deliver family planning services with USAID funding.

1984

The Reagan administration announces the Mexico City Policy.

1993

The Mexico City Policy is rescinded by President Clinton.

1994

Sunaulo Parivar Nepal is established as a Marie Stopes affiliate (MSI Nepal).

1995

The Post-Abortion Care (PAC) program is initiated in Nepal with USAID funding. A PAC training site is established at Maternity Hospital in Kathmandu with technical support from JHPIEGO, an affiliate of Johns Hopkins University, and EngenderHealth.

2000

Nepal’s Parliamentary Committee on Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs recommends passage of the 11th Amendment Bill, which would liberalize the restrictive abortion law.

2001

President George W. Bush reinstates the Mexico City Policy, or the Global Gag Rule as it is known by then.

FPAN refuses the terms of the gag rule, losing $100,000 in annual support from EngenderHealth and $400,000 in USAID-funded contraceptives.

MSI Nepal refuses the terms of the gag rule and loses USAID funding for mobile reproductive health clinics that were serving clients in rural areas.

The Kathmandu-based Center for Research on Environment Health and Population Activities (CREHPA), a local non-profit research organization, also refuses the terms of the gag rule. A frequent grantee of U.S. NGOs working in Nepal, CREHPA conducts research to inform policymaking and programming in the area of reproductive health.

More than 1,500 individuals, NGOs and government and donor agencies come together for the National Event for Gender Equality to combat discriminatory laws against women, including Nepal’s restrictive abortion law.

2002

Nepal's Lower House of Parliament passes and the Nepalese king signs an amendment to the Civil Code that legalizes abortion. The Abortion Task Force is formed at the Family Health Division at the Ministry of Health (MoH) to implement the new law.

2004

The government of Nepal starts its first legal abortion facility at Maternity Hospital in Kathmandu. Since then, the MoH has established comprehensive abortion services in 21 government hospitals and certified 11 NGOs to provide abortion services. (Other donors are supporting the Ministry’s and NGOs’ activities to expand access to safe, legal abortion. U.S. law has long prohibited the use of USAID funds for abortion services.)