President Donald Trump has reinstated an international pro-life regulation known as the Mexico City Policy which will prevent federal funds from being provided to foreign non-governmental agencies that promote or perform abortion.
CNA News is reporting on the international pro-life regulation which was signed yesterday by the president. The Mexico City Policy is a memorandum first issued by President Ronald Reagan in 1984 at the United Nations population conference in Mexico City. The policy halts all federal funds from going to foreign non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that either perform abortion or promote it as a family planning method.
This policy was rescinded in 1993 when President Clinton took office and was restored eight years later by President George W. Bush. President Barack Obama once again rescinded it when he took office in 2009.
The U.S. provides an estimated $600 million to NGO’s for family planning each year and will continue to provide funds but only to organizations that do not provide abortions.
Pro-abortion groups quickly launched into a campaign of misinformation, claiming the policy will deny healthcare to women and cause many to die because they will be forced into “back alley” abortions.
However, there is no evidence of increased illegal abortions, or deaths resulting from those abortions, as a result of the Mexico City Policy.
Instead, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops suggests that the money can be better used by helping to reduce maternal morbidity around the world.
“Dr. R.L. Walley, medical director of MaterCare International, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology who has spent 20 years in West Africa caring for poor mothers, cites five causes for high maternal morbidity rates: hemorrhage, infection, induced abortion, high blood pressure and obstructed labor,” they cite in this FACT sheet.
But that’s not stopping pro-abortion groups from firing back at President Trump with the usual inflammatory rhetoric:
“Trump’s reinstatement of the global gag rule officially turns his anti-woman, anti-choice rhetoric into policy,” NARAL tweeted.
Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) is threatening to take legislative action against the new president whom she claims is “favoring ideological politics over women and families.”
“I will continue to stand up to President Trump and Republican leadership in Congress who are intent on rolling back women’s access to reproductive healthcare, and will introduce bipartisan legislation to repeal the Global Gag Rule for good,” she said.
The success of this legislation is in serious doubt as pro-abortion Democrats are in the minority in the Senate.
On the other side of the issue, advocates for life are praising the move.
Family Research Council President Tony Perkins applauded President Trump for acting so swiftly to restore the Mexico City Policy:
“I thank President Trump for issuing an executive order in keeping with his campaign promise that he will protect taxpayers from having to pay for abortions,” Perkins said.
“Funding foreign groups that promote or participate in abortion violates the principle that there should be a ‘wall of separation’ between taxpayer money and abortion.”
© All Rights Reserved, Living His Life Abundantly®/Women of Grace® http://www.womenofgrace.com
