2019 Victories: Ending U.S. Taxpayer Funding for Overseas Abortions

This is the latest installment of our year-end victories series looking back at some of the numerous victories by the ACLJ in 2019.

This year, as part of its expansion of the Mexico City Policy, the Trump Administration announced that it will block U.S. taxpayer funds from funding or even supporting or promoting abortion internationally.

Two years ago, the ACLJ publicly supported President Trump’s decision to reinstate Ronald Reagan’s Mexico City Policy that prohibited the use of U.S. tax dollars as foreign aid to organizations that either fund or promote abortions internationally.

In a major step validating this Administration’s support of life, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo made it clear earlier this year that U.S. funds will not be going to fund “nongovernmental organizations that perform or actively promote abortion as a method of family planning,” and that the State Department will also “refuse to provide assistance to foreign NGOs that give financial support to other foreign groups in the global abortion industry.”

This critically important step prohibits pro-abortion organizations like International Planned Parenthood Federation from directly receiving funds from the U.S., as well as indirectly receiving taxpayer funds from other pro-abortion organizations that don’t directly perform or advocate for abortion.

Secretary Pompeo reiterated that the Policy “now protects every human life impacted by the nearly $9 billion of foreign aid we spend on global health programs each year . . . . American taxpayer dollars will not be used to underwrite abortions. . . . [T]his State Department, and our USAID – will do all we can to safeguard U.S. taxpayer dollars and protect and respect the sanctity of life for all people around the globe.”

This is a decisive step in protecting and respecting the sanctity of life. The ACLJ stands firmly behind the State Department’s continuing efforts to ensure that U.S. taxpayer dollars are not used to kill – or even promote killing – innocent babies overseas. And it’s a victory that we have fought for many years to achieve.

To help ensure the ACLJ continues to have the resources we need to defend the unborn and make pro-life victories like this possible, please consider making a Tax-Deductible donation to the ACLJ through our year-end Matching Challenge. Your gift will be DOUBLED dollar-for-dollar through the end of the year.

You can read more in the ACLJ’s 2019 Victories Series here.

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