Trump Reinstates Ban on Funding Foreign Groups who Provide or Promote Abortion
In keeping with Republican Presidential traditions, Donald Trump on Monday reinstated the ban on American funding of foreign health care groups who provide or promote abortion.
Among the first executive orders signed by President Trump is one that prohibits the granting of federal aid to foreign non-government organizations that provide either abortion services, or any advice, counseling, or information regarding abortion. With the policy in effect, these NGOs will cease to receive American funds even if they use other non-U.S. funds to provide these services.
This rule, known as the "Mexico City Policy" for the location that hosted the UN Conference where it was announced, was first introduced by former Republican President Ronald Reagan in 1984. Since then it has alternated in and out of effect under Presidents with opposing political alliances, with Democrats Clinton and Obama suspending it, and Republicans Bush and Trump re-imposing the policy.
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Donald Trump, and his running mate Mike Pence, had maintained a strong pro-life rhetoric during their election campaigns. One of Trump's key campaign promises was to uphold an anti-abortion stance once he was elected, a move that won him the support of many conservative pro-lifers.
"We applaud President Trump for putting an end to taxpayer funding of groups that promote the killing of unborn children in developing nations," Carol Tobias, president of the National Right to Life Committee in Washington, the nation's oldest and largest anti-abortion organization, said in a statement.
But the move has also attracted a large number of critics who are worried about the effect Trump's administration will have on women's reproductive health rights. The American Civil Liberties Union posted on Twitter: "Trump's 3rd executive order today is assault on women's health. "Mexico City policy" strips US support from health clinics around the globe."
While the pro-life brigade thinks that re-enacting this policy will reduce abortions in under-developed or developing countries, health experts reason that it has an entirely opposite effect. Research suggests that a lack of funding to such health clinics not only reduces or eliminates distribution of contraceptives, thereby leading to more pregnancies and hence abortions, it also increases the occurrence of illegal and dangerous abortions too, reports the New York Times.
In first few days in office, President Trump has started a repeal of the Affordable Care Act (without any replacement in place) and now reinstated the "Mexico City Policy," which has caused widespread concerns about the state of healthcare the American public can expect under the new administration. With the unprecedented "Women's Marches" held across the country this weekend doing nothing to dampen his spirits, it seems that Trump, unopposed or not, will carry out his intentions with total impunity.
