Trump Admin Reinstates Mexico City Policy, Enforces Hyde Amendment in Pro-Life Executive Actions
On Friday, President Donald Trump signed two executive actions aimed at preventing taxpayer dollars from funding abortions, both domestically and abroad. The measures mark a significant shift in US abortion policy, reversing changes implemented during the Biden administration.
The first action reinstated the Mexico City Policy through a presidential memorandum. This policy prohibits federal funding from going to international organizations that promote or perform abortions in foreign countries. It reverses a 2021 memorandum by former President Joe Biden, which had allowed funding for such organizations.
“I direct the Secretary of State, in coordination with the Secretary of Health and Human Services, to the extent allowable by law, to implement a plan to extend the requirements of the reinstated Memorandum to global health assistance furnished by all departments or agencies,” Trump wrote in the memorandum.
He added, “I further direct the Secretary of State to take all necessary actions, to the extent permitted by law, to ensure that U.S. taxpayer dollars do not fund organizations or programs that support or participate in the management of a program of coercive abortion or involuntary sterilization.”
In a separate executive order, Trump moved to enforce the Hyde Amendment, which bans the use of federal funds for elective abortions in the United States. The order criticized the Biden administration for embedding “forced taxpayer funding of elective abortions in a wide variety of Federal programs.”
“For nearly five decades, the Congress has annually enacted the Hyde Amendment and similar laws that prevent Federal funding of elective abortion, reflecting a longstanding consensus that American taxpayers should not be forced to pay for that practice,” Trump said in the order. “It is the policy of the United States, consistent with the Hyde Amendment, to end the forced use of Federal taxpayer dollars to fund or promote elective abortion.”
The actions were implemented on the same day the Department of Justice announced it would limit enforcement of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act, a law designed to prevent the blocking of reproductive health clinic entrances. According to the New York Post, critics have argued that the law unfairly targets pro-life activists.
