Trump Greatly Expands Federal Limits on “Mexico City Policy” Pro-Abort Spending

Some small good news. The “Mexico City policy” enacted by Ronald Reagan in 1984 has been a tit for tat kind of thing that varies depending on which party holds the White House. It notionally bans any spending in international aid programs (is it just to still have such things, given the state of this country?) administered by the US Department of State and USAID, and is generally implemented or rescinded every time the presidency changes from (R) to (D).

This teeter-totter policy has otherwise remained stable for decades, at least until Donald J. Trump significantly expanded the bounds of the programs from which funds may not be directed to pro-abort activities (nominally, as CRS has shown, there are lots of ways to get around rules such as these):

President Trump on Monday expanded the Mexico City Policy that bans funding for abortions outside U.S. borders to include a broader range of international aid programs.

The policy applies to approximately $8.8 billion in funds appropriated to the Department of State, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and the Department of Defense. Under previous administrations, the ban was applied on a more limited basis to $60 million in foreign aid programming. [So the previous ban was almost entirely symbolic, as $60 million represents a trifle compared to overall foreign aid spending.  Trump increased it by nearly 15000%!  That’s a massive increase.]

The “Protecting Life in Global Health Assistance” policy widens the scope of the Mexico City Policy to block a broader range of foreign aid to non-governmental organizations that promote or support abortion and also mention of abortion in connection with family planning.

“The United States remains deeply committed to supporting health programs around the world. Foreign NGOs [nongovernmental organizations] that agree not to perform or actively promote abortion as a method of family planning will remain eligible to receive global health assistance through the standard U.S. Government processes that govern the award of federal funds,” the White House announced in a press release.

In January, President Trump reinstituted the Mexico City Policy, established by President Reagan in 1984, to halt funding for any group providing or promoting abortions, The policy, which was rescinded by President Obama in 2009, stipulates that “U.S. taxpayer money should not be used to support foreign organizations that perform or actively promote abortion as a method of family planning in other nations.”………

………Steve Mosher, president of the Population Research Institute, earlier this year told LifeSiteNews that by expanding the Mexico City Policy to include all international “health assistance” programs it becomes easier to stop funding of international groups pushing abortion and sterilization, and that the Trump policy will save more lives than past Mexico City Policies.

Now, if we can only get many more souls, even good pro-life souls, to start to recognize the inescapable link between abortion, and it’s primary cause – contraception use.  Until we get rid of mass contraceptive use, probably by making it illegal, we’ll never be rid of abortion, whether legal or illegal (though making abortion illegal even without bans on contraception would probably cut the number of abortions performed by 50-80% more or less instantly).  This broadening of the Mexico City policy is a welcome improvement, but it’s a very limited step in the overall satanic war against unborn souls.  Infinitely more needs to be done.

De-funding Planned Barrenhood would be a good place to start.