Trump Reinstates Abortion Funding Restrictions

01.02.2017

US President Donald Trump has reinstated the Mexico City Policy, a rule that bans groups funded by the US government from promoting abortion around the world.

The rule, which affects American non-governmental organisations working abroad, is one that incoming presidents have used to signal their positions on abortion. It was first passed by President Ronald Reagan in 1984.

President Trump signed the reinstatement directive at a ceremony in the White House on his fourth day in office. The rule had been lifted by former President Barack Obama in one of his first acts as president when he took office in 2009.

The far-reaching rule affects groups getting funding from the US Agency for International Development, even if they use separate money to perform abortions, or provide abortion counseling or referrals, advocates note.

Following the rule’s inception in 1984, former President Bill Clinton revoked it when he took office in 1993 and former President George W Bush reinstated it in 2001.

Reuters. January 24.