Rebecca Oas
(ZENIT News – Center for Family and Human Rights / New York, 10.11.2025).- The Trump administration is preparing to radically expand what used to be called Mexico City policy that bans American money from going to groups that promote or perform abortions overseas. The new policy will eliminate funding for “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI) programs.
Mexico City policy was first expanded in President Trump’s first term to cover all global health spending, not just family planning, and it was renamed “Protecting Life in Global Health Assistance.”
The Mexico City Policy has been long been a political football, first instituted by Ronald Reagan and then rescinded by Democratic presidents and reinstated under Republican presidents for decades.
However, even the expanded policy in Trump’s first term contained crucial loopholes. Exemptions remained for funding going to humanitarian assistance and multilateral agencies like those of the United Nations.
According to an unnamed official, the State Department “will soon take additional steps to close loopholes that allowed taxpayer funding for promotion of abortion in previous iterations of the Mexico City Policy.” The new policy reportedly will cover all foreign spending with the exception of the military.
The policy will also target U.S. programs promoting gender ideology and other “woke” agendas overseas, for example a program to provide “gender affirming” medical interventions in Guatemala.
Republican lawmakers expressed their approval of the new policy, including North Carolina representative Mark Harris who told the Daily Signal, “Americans don’t want their taxpayer dollars exporting woke agendas abroad.” Illinois representative Mary Miller expressed gratitude to President Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio and said that the policy “sends a message to the world: America stands for life.”
The text of the policy has not yet been revealed, and according to an official who spoke to Politico, it is unlikely to be released while the government remains in shutdown. It is reportedly being developed by the Department of State and the Department of Health and Human Services.
The Mexico City Policy and its previously expanded version have been highly effective in limiting the influence of the international abortion lobby. Its pro-abortion critics, who call it the “global gag rule,” admit that it has a “chilling effect” on their ability to lobby and form coalitions with groups that rely on U.S. funding and want to distance themselves from the abortion issue.
While most recipients of U.S. funding under the prior policy were willing to abide by its terms, the exceptions included the International Planned Parenthood Federation and MSI Reproductive Choices, formerly Marie Stopes International. These international abortion giants chose to forego U.S. funding rather than curtail their abortion activities.
MSI’s Senior Director of U.S. External Relations, Beth Schlachter, issued a statement in response to the news of the expanded policy, accusing the Trump administration of going against its stated support of national sovereignty. “This would be an insidious encroachment on sovereignty, pressuring governments to change their laws.”
MSI receives significant funding from governments, including those of the United Kingdom and Australia, to conduct lobbying efforts in other countries, including efforts to legalize and decriminalize abortion.
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