Pro-Life Victory: U.S. Taxpayers No Longer Forced to Fund Foreign Abortions

Hours ago, President Donald Trump fulfilled his first promise to the pro-life community by signing an Executive order reinstating Ronald Reagan’s Mexico City Policy, which prohibits the use of U.S. taxpayer money in foreign aid to fund or promote abortions outside of the United States.

This is a vital fight that we have been engaged in for years, battling to ensure that American taxpayers are not forced to fund abortions overseas. Even beyond that, it prevents American taxpayers from being forced to fund international organizations that even promote abortion. It not only defunds Planned Parenthood’s expansive international operations, but it also defunds the viciously pro-abortion United Nations Fund for Population Activities.

The Mexico City Policy was first implemented by President Reagan in 1984. As our full legal memo on the policy from 2009 lays out,

At the 1984 United Nations International Conference on Population in Mexico City, the United States announced that it would begin imposing additional restrictions on its disbursement of family planning funds to foreign nations and FNGOs. In its Policy Statement, the United States declared the following:

“The United Nations Declaration of the Rights of the Child (1959) calls for legal protection for children before birth as well as after birth. In keeping with this obligation, the United States does not consider abortion an acceptable element of family planning programs and will no longer contribute to those of which it is a part. Accordingly, when dealing with nations which support abortion with funds not provided by the United States Government, the United States will contribute to such nations through segregated accounts which cannot be used for abortion. Moreover, the United States will no longer contribute to separate nongovernmental organizations which perform or actively promote abortion as a method of family planning in other nations. With regard to the United Nations Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA), the U.S. will insist that no part of its contribution be used for abortion. The U.S. will also call for concrete assurances that the UNFPA is not engaged in, or does not provide funding for, abortion or coercive family planning programs; if such assurances are not forthcoming, the U.S. will redirect the amount of its contribution to other, non-UNFPA, family planning programs.”

The Mexico City Policy continued under President George H.W. Bush, was rescinded by President Clinton on January 22, 1993 (the anniversary of Roe v. Wade), reinstated by President George W. Bush on January 22, 2001, and once again rescinded by President Obama on January 23, 2009.

President Trump’s Executive order today is a crucial first step in dismantling the abortion industry’s deadly hold on our taxpayer money and our government’s policies. It’s the crucial first step in ensuring our foreign aid sent around the world is focused on human flourishing and life rather than death and destruction at the hands of abortion.

We are thankful for President Trump’s decisive action in defense of life on his first full workday in office – a critical protection that we’ve been advocating for years and called on the Trump Administration to implement immediately.

Now the fight continues to defend the God-given value and dignity of every human life, no matter how small.

Tomorrow, Congress is voting on a bill that will codify the Hyde Amendment into U.S. law – permanently enshrining the fundamental principle that U.S. taxpayer dollars should never directly fund abortions. Among other things, the bill simply states: "No funds authorized or appropriated by Federal law . . . shall be expended for any abortion."

We are also aggressively fighting on Capitol Hill to defund Planned Parenthood through the budget reconciliation process that would also roll back pro-abortion ObamaCare.

We must continue forging ahead in the fight to ensure our taxpayer money isn’t used to end innocent lives, every single one of which deserves protection under the law.

Join our fight to defund Planned Parenthood. Sign our petition today.