President Donald Trump used his executive authority Friday to restore U.S. participation in two international anti-abortion pacts, including one that cuts off U.S. family planning funds for foreign organizations if they provide or promote abortions.
Trump reinstated the Mexico City Policy, which opponents call the "global gag rule" because they say it silences pro-choice advocates. Established by former President Ronald Reagan in 1984, it has been rescinded by each Democratic president since then and reinstated when a Republican returns to the White House.
Trump said in his memorandum Friday he was directing Secretary of State Marco Rubio to implement the Mexico City Policy "to ensure that U.S. taxpayer dollars do not fund organizations or programs that support or participate in the management of a program of coercive abortion or involuntary sterilization."
Rubio also announced Friday the United States was rejoining the Geneva Consensus Declaration, which critics say aims to limit abortion access for millions of women and girls around the world.
The declaration was co-sponsored by the United States, Brazil, Uganda, Egypt, Hungary and Indonesia in 2020, when Trump was in office during his first term. It now has more than 35 signatories.
Trump also issued an executive order related to the Hyde Amendment, which prohibits the use of federal funds to pay for abortion coverage in the United States, and rescinded two of predecessor Joe Biden's executive orders intending to preserve reproductive health services after the Supreme Court overturned the Roe v. Wade ruling on abortion.
Posted by John3262005
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>The programs impacted by the executive orders — which were first reported by RealClearPolitics — include overseas health organizations that distribute contraception and help combat HIV and other sexually transmitted infections. Grantees were already barred from using any U.S. taxpayer money for abortions, but sometimes used separate funding to provide them.
>A 2022 study by The National Academy of Sciences estimated that Trump’s anti-abortion restrictions on foreign aid led to 108,000 deaths of women and children in poor countries over the four years of his first administration. That’s because it slashed funding for groups like the nonprofit MSI Reproductive Choices, which operates clinics that provide contraception and testing for sexually transmitted infections with U.S. funds and uses separate revenue streams to provide abortions.
>Another study by Stanford University researchers found that the narrower version of the Mexico City policy that several GOP presidents enacted prior to Trump caused the number of abortions to increase across sub-Saharan Africa because so many women lost access to contraception.
But I was assured Trump was moderate on abortion!
Melania Trump in shambles