U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, in a press briefing yesterday, announced the Trump administration is expanding the Mexico City Policy to stop backdoor funding to pro-abortion organizations. Under the new expanded policy, foreign NGOs receiving U.S. foreign health assistance will be prohibited from providing funding to any other foreign NGOs that perform or promote abortion.
Secretary Pompeo also announced funding cuts to the Organization of American States (OAS) in response to the organization’s activities promoting the legalization of abortion in pro-life Latin American countries.
The Mexico City Policy is a U.S. Government policy which prohibits foreign health assistance from funding foreign NGOs that perform or promote abortion as a method of family planning. The Mexico City Policy was re-instituted by President Trump as one of his first acts as president in 2017.
The Mexico City Policy also prohibits foreign NGOs that receive U.S. foreign health assistance from providing “financial support to any other foreign non-governmental organization” that perform or promote abortion. But despite this, prior to Pompeo’s announcement yesterday, it had been the practice of the U.S. Department of State to allow foreign NGO grantees to provide funding to other foreign pro-abortion organizations.
Previously, the State Department had interpreted the Mexico City Policy to only prohibit foreign NGOs receiving U.S. health assistance from giving money to other pro-abortion foreign NGOs for the purpose of performing or promoting abortion. As a result, foreign NGOs receiving U.S. funding were able to provide funding to separate pro-abortion organizations, so long as funding was provided for non-abortion-related expenses.
This arrangement, in theory, would have permitted a scenario where a foreign NGO grant recipient could provide funding for organizations like the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), just so long as the funding was provided for expenses not related to abortion, such as for family planning or sex education programs.
The State Department’s new policy, however, will close this loophole…. Read More>>
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