President Donald Trump on Friday called the “Mexico City Policy” blocking the flow of U.S. aid to groups that provide abortion services, advise people about abortion procedures, and advocate for abortion rights abroad. Signed an executive order reinstating a known federal rule.
The policy was first enacted by President Ronald Reagan in 1984 and is typically implemented whenever a Republican president wins the White House and rescinded whenever a Democrat wins. But this whiplash has major implications for abortion and reproductive health care around the world.
Historically, the reinstatement of the Mexico City policy would impact up to approximately $600 million in international aid. But in his first term, President Trump dramatically expanded the scope of the Mexico City policy, which abortion rights supporters refer to as the “global gag rule.” The Trump administration is extending this policy not just to family planning assistance, as it normally does, but also to aid to organizations that provide a variety of health services around the world, with billions of dollars’ worth of funding. This has had an impact on aid.
According to the Guttmacher Institute, which studies abortion restrictions and their impact, the policy cuts off access to contraception, makes women seek unsafe abortions, and makes them more dependent on U.S. aid to continue their plans. It is said that this could cause confusion within non-governmental organizations.
“Reinstating the Mexico City policy would have dire consequences for people around the world,” Rebecca Hart Holder, president of Reproductive Equity Now, said in a statement.
“The United States is a critical partner to health care providers and organizations around the world, and taking away front-line health care providers who provide the full range of reproductive health care and even information about people’s options is As a result, people will die from pregnancy complications. “
President Trump also signed a second executive order affirming a long-standing U.S. policy prohibiting the use of federal funds to pay for abortions. The order also rescinded two executive orders written by Joe Biden that sought to protect access to abortion following the 2022 overturn of Roe v. Wade. Roe’s fall from grace sparked a wave of states banning the procedure.
President Trump’s executive order comes hours after he sent a prerecorded message to demonstrators who attended the nation’s largest anti-abortion rally, the March for Life, in Washington on Friday afternoon. Ta. His vice president, J.D. Vance, directly addressed the march.
“At Inauguration Day on Monday, our country faces the return of the most pro-life, pro-life president of the United States in our lifetime,” Vance told the crowd, to loud cheers. .
Abortion rights supporters had expected a resurgence of the Mexico City policy, but President Trump announced widespread enforcement of the Comstock Act, a 19th-century anti-vice law that could be used to effectively ban abortions across the United States. Waiting for news on whether it will be allowed.
While abortion rights remain extremely popular in the United States, Mr. Vance’s and Mr. Trump’s attendance at the march is a sign of the anti-abortion movement’s political firepower and firm grip on the Republican Party.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune and House Speaker Mike Johnson also spoke at the march, marking the first time in the march’s more than 50-year history that leaders from both the House and Senate have spoken. That’s true.