As widely anticipated, President Obama issued an Executive Order overturning the pro-life policy known as the Mexico City Policy. This is the first item President Obama has checked off of the abortion agenda presented to him by pro-abortion groups.
The Mexico City Policy was first announced by President Reagan in 1984 at the Mexico City Population Conference and remained in place until President Clinton rescinded it on January 22, 1993. The policy was reinstated by President George W. Bush and has now been rescinded again.
You can read President Obama’s Executive Order repealing the pro-life policy here, although there may be a delay before the order is posted.
Without the Mexico City Policy U.S. population control/ family planning funding will flow freely to foreign non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that insist on promoting and performing abortion as a method of family planning. International Planned Parenthood and Marie Stopes International — two of the world’s largest abortion providers — will likely be big beneficiaries of this policy change.
The Mexico City Policy established clear separation between U.S supported family planning activities and abortion. To accomplish this, the policy required that foreign non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that receive U.S. population control/family planning grants or contracts agree that they would not promote or provide abortion.
International family planning is currently funded at over $450 million, and the Mexico City Policy did not reduce that funding at all. It only required that funds, support and supplies are directed to foreign NGOs that are at least neutral on the issue of abortion. This is particularly important in nations where pro-life laws are under assault. The U.S. should not support the activities of NGOs who are actively working to export abortion overseas. However, with the policy no longer in place, international population/family planning funds will now flow to these radical groups, courtesy of President Obama.
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