By President Trump on Friday took a pair of actions to limit U.S. government funding for abortions, reversing some of the Biden administration’s efforts to increase access to the procedure.
Trump issued an executive order reinstating the Mexico City Policy that requires foreign nongovernmental organizations to certify that they do not use any funding sources to help them pay to perform, counsel or provide information on abortions abroad as a stipulation for receiving U.S. funding.
The policy, referred to as the global gag rule by reproductive rights groups, was first introduced during the second Reagan administration and has been rescinded by every Democratic president and reinstated by every Republican president since then.
Trump previously restored the policy four days into his first term before President Biden rescinded it again a week into his own. He renamed the policy “Protecting Life in Global Health Assistance” and amended it to apply to most of the U.S.’s bilateral global health assistance, according to health nonprofit KFF.
Trump’s expansion of the policy impacted several global assistance programs like the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), as well as some tuberculosis and malaria prevention programs and maternal and child health programs.
Reproductive health advocates feared that Trump would swiftly reinstate a revamped version of the policy. They looked to the conservative policy roadmap, Project 2025, as a predictor of what future programs the policy could impact. Project 2025 demands that the Mexico City Policy encompass almost all U.S. foreign assistance, including humanitarian aid.
Trump also signed an executive order aimed at enforcing the Hyde Amendment, which has banned the use of any federal dollars on abortions since 1977. The order also rescinds a pair of Biden administration actions intended to expand access to abortion services after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.
The moves were first reported by RealClearPolitics.
Trump signed both measures on the same day as the March for Life, an annual gathering of anti-abortion activists on the National Mall. Trump addressed the rally by video message, while Vice President JD Vance spoke in person.
“With this action the president is getting American taxpayers out of the abortion business and restoring sanity to the federal government,” Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of SBA Pro-Life America, said in a statement. “This is a big win for babies and mothers, and it reflects the will of the majority of Americans who strongly oppose bankrolling the abortion industry at home and abroad.”
Trump attempted to portray himself as a moderate on the issue, arguing abortion laws should be left to the states and criticizing some measures as too harsh. But he also repeatedly took credit for appointing three conservative justices who overturned Roe v. Wade.
Updated at 9 p.m. EST.