President Trump has moved to cut off federal taxpayer money for international organizations that provide or promote abortions overseas.
Trump is expanding his 2017 executive order that built on the nation’s “Mexico City Policy,” which bars non-governmental organizations that offer or promote abortion overseas from receiving federal government funding. President Obama ended the policy during his presidency, but days after Trump took office, he reinstated the policy.
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“In 2017, he expanded the policy to cut off more streams of revenue to international non-governmental agencies (NGOs) that promote and/or provide abortions,” LifeNews reported. “The rule defunded Planned Parenthood’s international arm of about $100 million and the British abortion chain Marie Stopes International of about $73 million in U.S. tax dollars.”
Released Monday in the Federal Register, it would require all groups that receive global health aid contracts to agree not to promote and/or provide elective abortions, The Hill reports. Those that refuse would not receive taxpayer funding.
According to the Catholic News Agency, the proposal expands the Mexico City Policy to include military and government contracts overseas.
While the policy previously covered around $600 million in USAID family planning assistance, President Trump directed the State Department to expand it to cover “global health assistance furnished by all departments or agencies” to the extent allowed by the law.
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The expanded Protecting Life in Global Health Assistance policy covers nearly $9 billion in U.S. foreign aid under the State Department, USAID, Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and the Department of Defense. This includes, for example, grants to foreign NGOs under international health programs to fight AIDS and infectious diseases, or to provide maternal and child nutrition.
