Penna Dexter

Ever since Ronald Reagan was in the White House, every newly-inaugurated president takes a look and decides what to do regarding something called the Mexico City Policy. President Reagan initiated the policy in 1984 at a United Nations conference in Mexico City. It prevents federal funds from going to foreign NGO’s(Non-Governmental Organizations) that perform abortions overseas. The last administration did away with the policy. In one of his early actions as President, Donald Trump reinstated it.

Pro-life presidents always make this one of their early announcements and it sets the tone for the values the American government will export in its foreign policy. Will we consistently promote a culture of life?

Regardless of who is president, U.S policy forbids federal funds from being used to fund abortion in other countries. But funding only the non-abortion- related activities of an NGO that encourages or promotes abortion still means that group will have more money for abortions. So, every president since Reagan has made the choice: rescind or reinstate the Mexico City Policy. The policy has not been operative for the last 8 years, but the new administration has changed course.

The reinstatement of the Mexico City Policy sends a clear message that the U.S. will not encourage abortion in our aid policies. Groups that perform or promote abortion will not get any U.S. funds for any purpose.

This executive order is stronger than past versions of the Mexico City Policy in that it applies, not just to State Department programs and NGO’s including International Planned Parenthood, but also to the overseas programs of all federal agencies.

Under the Mexico City Policy, it’s not like we stop or even reduce international family planning funding. We just direct the funds to organizations that provide humanitarian relief in the form of real health care to women, not abortion.

This is a big deal. A new report by the Global Life Campaign, the result of 30 years of study compiling data on 196 nations, reveals that there have been more than a billion abortions performed worldwide in the last century. The report’s authors call this the Greatest Genocide ever.

Reinstating this pro-life policy also protects the American taxpayer from having to pay for abortions, reestablishing a wall of separation between taxpayer dollars and abortion.

Congress also took an important step to limit taxpayer funding of abortion domestically. The U.S. House of Representatives passed the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act by a vote of 238-183. The Senate should act on it soon and we now have a president who will sign it. This bill, when enacted, will end all direct funding of abortion by federal departments, agencies, and programs. It will eliminate the need to repeatedly pass the Hyde Amendment, which has been used since the 70’s to stop abortion funding in various pieces of legislation.

Next, we must end government payments to the nation’s largest abortion provider, Planned Parenthood.