Out of more than 700 groups that provide foreign aid with U.S. tax dollars, just four refused to comply with a new policy prohibiting them from promoting or providing abortions overseas.
This flies in the face of the dire predictions that abortion activists cried about when President Donald Trump reinstated the pro-life policy in January 2017.
The Mexico City Policy, initially implemented under President Ronald Reagan, prohibits international aid groups from receiving tax dollars if they promote or provide abortions overseas. Trump reinstated the policy during his first week in office and later expanded it to all federal agencies.
A new report by the U.S. Department of State on Tuesday shows that 729 of 733 groups agreed to provide aid without promoting or providing abortions – a compliance rate of 99.5 percent.
Previous news reports indicate that two of the four groups that refused to comply are International Planned Parenthood Federation and Marie Stopes International, two of the largest abortion businesses in the world.
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Susan B. Anthony List President Marjorie Dannenfelser praised the Trump administration for funding groups that actually care about the lives of women and children.
“The overwhelming 99.5% compliance rate shows that the dire prognostications of abortion advocates have not come true,” Dannenfelser said. “Only a tiny minority of extreme pro-abortion groups have stubbornly refused to put the wellbeing of all women ahead of their agenda.”
The Trump administration did not cut funds from the programs. According to the report, $8.8 billion in funds were appropriated for global health assistance through Department of State, U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Department of Defense.
“So far, [the new policy] has been applied to 733 awards,” according to the report. “Prime partners declined to sign in only four instances out of 733 awards, so nearly all prime partners who have had the opportunity to accept the terms of [the policy] have done so.”
The report also notes that of the four groups that refused to comply, three previously received funds through USAID.
“USAID is currently working to transition the activities of those organizations to other partners while minimizing disruption of service,” the report states.
International pro-life leaders thanked the Trump administration for its dedication to life.
Carmel Nisha Pius Franco, director of the pro-life organization UYIRKKURAL in India, said: “Indian women need life, dignity, education and empowerment, not abortion. We have been exploited through decades-long population control propaganda which has resulted in at least 300 million abortions (16 million abortions being performed in India in just one year) and dangerous sub-replacement fertility rate. Americans do not want their hands in the blood of innocent children killed in India. Yes, we need to deal with development issues, but not by killing our children. Thanks to President Trump for setting things right …”
Michael Anthony Mapa, chairman of Filipinos for Life, added: “On behalf of my country, the Philippines, I’d like to thank President Donald J. Trump for reinstating the Mexico City Policy. The U.S. Government should not be spending precious taxpayer dollars to promote the killing of babies around the world. That is a crime against humanity. I’m glad that President Trump is putting an end to federal funds to promote it.”
As LifeNews.com reported, the pro-life policy had been in place during the entirety of the Bush administration and Obama rescinded it on his first week in office. Named for a 1984 population conference where President Reagan initially announced it, the Mexico City Policy made it so family planning funds could only go to groups that would agree to not do abortions or lobby foreign nations to overturn their pro-life laws.
Trump’s Executive Memorandum to reinstate the Mexico City Policy stops taxpayer funding of groups that perform and promote abortions overseas but does not stop non-abortion international assistance. The order ensures U.S. foreign aid will continue to go to health care and humanitarian relief in the millions of dollars. It just will not subsidize abortion overseas.
According to SBA List, the International Planned Parenthood Federation performed more than 1 million abortions in 2016, an increase of 13.5 percent over 2015, and received more than $27 million in U.S. government grants in 2015-2016.
Under the Obama administration, the British-based abortion chain Marie Stopes International also received taxpayer funding. Like Planned Parenthood in America, Marie Stopes has a shoddy reputation, with one recent report showing about 400 botched abortions in a two-month period.
