On his first day of his first business week, President Donald Trump issued an executive order to reinstate the successful Mexico City Policy.

     “By redirecting taxpayer dollars away from the international abortion industry, President Trump has re-instituted life-affirming protections for unborn children and their mothers,” said Rep. Chris Smith (NJ-04), Co-Chairman of the Congressional Pro-Life Caucus. “There is political consensus that taxpayer dollars should not fund abortion and the abortion industry.”

     The Mexico City policy simply requires that foreign nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) agree, as a condition of their receipt of U.S. federal grant money, to neither perform nor actively promote abortion as a method of family planning overseas. It does not impact the level of funding available; rather it sets a standard grantees must meet in order to be eligible for U.S. taxpayer funding. The Mexico City Policy was initially announced by President Reagan at a 1984 U.N. Population Conference in Mexico City, and was successfully implemented during the Bush 41 and Bush 43 Administrations.  

     “Without this protection in place, foreign NGOs receiving U.S. government funds promote and perform abortion throughout the world with the imprimatur of the United States,” said Smith who has championed the Mexico City Policy for more than three decades, first offering legislation to write the Mexico City Policy into law in 1984. Smith re-introduced the legislation multiple times, including 1989. “Organizations like Marie Stopes International and the International Planned Parenthood Federation have reported performing over 1 million abortions annually. Pro-abortion NGOs also set up additional projects overseas seeking to topple pro-life laws, imposing a new colonialism that fails to respect life-affirming cultures.”

     Smith noted that the American public overwhelmingly opposes using tax dollars to pay for abortion and/or subsidize the abortion industry. He cited a Marist poll released at 11 AM today stating that 83% of Americans oppose “using tax dollars to support abortion in other countries.”

     “This executive order demonstrates that the Trump Administration is committed to a consistent, government-wide policy: taxpayer dollars should not fund abortion or the abortion industry—either domestically or internationally,” said Smith.

###