In a bold move, Britain has announced plans to support abortion and counseling services that have been excluded from U.S. funding.

Broadsheet reader Lenore of the blog Like Life … But Less So pointed us in the direction of an article in today’s Guardian, which reports that the British government will donate 3 million pounds (about $5.3 million) over two years to replace funding that was lost as a result of the “global gag” rule established by President Bush in 2001. The gag rule requires that organizations seeking U.S. funding agree not to provide abortion services or counseling.

And today the International Planned Parenthood Federation released a report, “Death and Denial: Unsafe Abortion and Poverty,” which notes that 19 million women resort to unsafe abortions every year. “Many of these women will die as a result; many more are permanently injured,” says the report. “Nearly all the women who die or are injured are poor and live in poor countries.”

Let’s hope others follow Britain’s lead in picking up America’s global slack.