When the women come to him, they are desperate. They meet the traditional healer in a sparsely furnished room, a half-hour's bumpy ride outside Blantyre, in southern Malawi.

The healer, who asked CNN not to be identified because abortion is illegal in Malawi, shows us where the women wait after he administers his mixture — a crumbling redbrick structure with a bamboo mat on a dirt floor.

Now public health officials, aid professionals and doctors in Malawi fear it could get even worse. The impoverished East African nation could be one of the hardest hit in Africa by proposed cuts to US foreign aid.

"There is a lot at stake. The US is the largest provider of family planning in the world and has been a real leader in providing support for many low- and middle-income countries,"

said Jennifer Kates, vice president and director of global health and HIV/AIDS at the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Like previous Republican presidents, Trump has reintroduced and now expanded the reach of the so-called Mexico City policy, also known as the "global gag rule," which mandates US funding withdrawals from any international non-governmental group that gives advice or helps women access abortions.

It could come down to the US Senate to preserve funding for global family planning. Policy experts hope that the Senate will remain true to recent bipartisan calls for the importance of foreign aid.

Read the full article at cnn.com